The Meaning of Love
by TheAnimeFicWriter
Summary: Ruby is starting out her second year in high school, but has gone through some major changes. Everything around her never goes according to how she wants so now, she's completely given up. With this change, will things go the way she wants or will she be taken by surprise once again?
1. Chapter 1

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 1

Ruby Rose

 **Note:** Here's a new story for you guys to start out the new school year. I'm going to sidetrack for a bit. I feel really bad about something. All of this time, I've never actually given you guys a good White Rose story. All of my dedication goes into my Bumblebee stories. Yes, Bumblebee is my favorite ship, but I can't be discriminatory against another really good ship. I've been working on this one for a while so I hope you all enjoy. I hope to not let you guys down with this story. This goes out to all of you White Rose fans, please keep your faith in me.

My name is Ruby Rose and I am now a second year in high school. Before I started high school, I wanted to have friends who I could trust and hang out with whenever I was bored. Unfortunately, I quickly found out the truth of human nature. I kept an open mind on things, but it just wasn't good enough. Whoever I talked to think, they only seemed that way up front, but when it came down to it, they were horrible people. They only cared about themselves and only thought about themselves. When this happened, I thought that I just had to find the right people to hang out with. However, that plan didn't work either. No one wanted anything to do with me no matter what I did. I couldn't believe what was happening. I started to realize that people were fake. Even when people had their clicks, they were still fake towards each other. With me being neglected and put on the sidelines, I got the chance to really examine the way people act in public and there's really only one way to describe it: Fake.

Now, as another school year comes around, I've changed myself in order to avoid any more unnecessary suffering. I don't talk to anyone which means no one will talk to me. I don't do anything to attract attention to myself which leaves me invulnerable to gossip behind my back. I'm involved in no clubs which allows me to not have to worry about connections with others. I know now that doing all of this will make my life a lot easier. My first year of high school was something that I could never forget. It's just too difficult to really talk about, but I do have to say that there wasn't a day where I came home with a smile on my face.

My name is Ruby Rose and I have given up on humanity's ability to change.

…

The day started out just like any other day and Ruby headed off to school in silence. She wasn't too thrilled about the new school starting since it would take every inch in her body to muscle through it all. Her classroom was 2-1. She didn't know who was going to be in her class, but also, she didn't really care. As long as she didn't cause a ruckus, she wouldn't be in any situation she couldn't handle.

When she got to school, she quickly headed to her classroom and waited for it to fill up. The first day of school was crucial for her because she sat somewhere where other people wanted to sit, it would immediately cause problems. This, she learned immediately on her first day of high school ever. Once the class started to fill, she saw that there was a vacant seat in the back of the room. She silently walked to it and unloaded her things. As she did, she couldn't help but hear some of the conversations that entered the room.

"So how was your summer?"

"Oh man, it was awesome. I got to head to the beach."

"Really? That's pretty awesome. I got to leave the country so I'm pretty proud of that." Ruby obviously didn't let it show on her face, but she couldn't stand the way those people were talking. That conversation was purely about bragging to the other person to see who had the better time off. That was another thing she learned in her first year. People don't like losing to the other. People constantly try to outshine others no matter if they're friend or foe. Ruby knew this and figured that the only way to avoid this was to be alone.

When class finally started, the whole room was finally filled. She looked around and saw that she didn't recognize anyone she encountered last year. This made her job easier. Since she didn't have any preexisting relationships with anybody, there was no worry. She silently and calmly made it through the morning classes without having to worry about someone talking crap about her.

After morning classes, Ruby took her lunch and went behind the academic building to eat lunch. This was a pretty recent find for her. At the end of her first year, she found out that all of the popular kids had lunch in the classrooms or in front of the school. The place where she went didn't have that problem. She was left alone to enjoy her food and take in the lovely air. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly true. There was one window in the back of the building that was open. She managed to overhear a conversation that really disgusted her.

"Hey Weiss, you look really good today."

"If you're using that as a pickup line, it's definitely not working."

"Aw, come on. We've known each other forever. Just go on one date with me."

"Why would I do that? Then I'd lose you as a friend. That wouldn't benefit me at all."

"Yeah, come on. We all know that Weiss already has her eyes on someone else. And not to be mean, but there's no way it could be you."

"Oh dang, I could feel that burn from here." Ruby kept quiet as they passed by the window. There was nothing about that conversation that made her happy. They were talking about relationships and relationships in high school were outright pointless. The odds of marrying your high school boyfriend of girlfriend was very slim. However, there was something that bothered her. That girl mentioned how she would lose him as a friend. That was something completely new to her. She never heard someone wanting a friend instead of a boyfriend or girlfriend so it kind of sparked her interest.

However, there wasn't anything else she could do. If she wanted to find out more about this interesting topic, she would be forced to get involved with people who definitely weren't people she'd want to be affiliated with. She simply opened up her lunch box and dug into her lunch with that comment stuck in her head for the rest of the day.

For the rest of the afternoon classes, Ruby couldn't really concentrate. She couldn't stop thinking about that comment.

 _Then I'd lose you as a friend._

This caused her a lot more internal conflict than she first thought. Thankfully, there was nothing too important going on in the beginning of the year. She managed to get through the first day without any major difficulties. Once school was done, she packed up her things and headed to her shoe locker to go home. When she cleared the room, she picked up another conversation that really disgusted her.

"Damn dude, that girl's got some nice legs."

"Legs? It's all about that ass."

"You should go talk to her."

"Alright." That random guy ran up to Ruby and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Hey baby, I couldn't help but notice you walking through the hall and… Oh... Never mind. It's just you." He let go of her shoulder and walked back to his friend. At that moment, Weiss walked around the corner and met up with those guys.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?"

"Haha, he totally thought that that girl was hot. It turns out that the girl was Ruby." Weiss was confused.

"Ruby? Who's that?" They turned their bodies and pointed at Ruby who was still standing at the end of the hallway. As Weiss looked up, she saw that Ruby was slouching and looking at the floor. "What did you guys say to her?"

"Nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing." She forced them to turn and look at her. They saw the same thing that Weiss saw. She was slouching and looking at the floor. However, that sight didn't last long. She slowly turned around and continued to make her way towards the exit.

"Why are you making a big deal about this?"

"What? You need to be aware of what you're saying. Girls aren't as durable as guys, you idiot." At that moment, she held onto her bag and ran over to Ruby. On the other hand, Ruby kept on walking to try and distance herself from that horrible experience. Once she got close to Ruby, she stuck out her hand to try and stop her by the shoulder. At that moment, Ruby quickly turned around and slapped her across the face. The ones who were watching were completely in shock. Weiss was caught off guard and fell onto the floor with her hand on her slapped cheek. She looked up to see the girl with eyes as sharp as could be.

"Just leave me alone. You don't know me at all so don't talk about me." As she continued to look at Ruby, she saw a tear fall from her eyes as she turned around and stormed off. Weiss slowly rose back onto her feet and dusted herself off.

Weiss, are you okay?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Um, because she slapped you and knocked you on your ass." Weiss turned her head and looked at the exit once more. She wasn't mad or anything. She was simply surprised by this random act by a strange, unknown girl.

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 2

That Encounter

When Ruby got home, she slammed the door and leaned against the door as she slid down onto her butt. She was confused. She was wondering why she did that. One of her jobs was to not do anything that would bring any attention to her and slapping that girl definitely went against that job. As troubled as she was about doing that, she also felt very relieved that she did. It was a random exertion of her feelings and she couldn't lie. It felt good. She obviously felt bad about slapping that girl, but it also let her release some of her internal tension.

When the next day came around, Ruby was hoping her normal life would return to normal, but that was simply wishful thinking. As she arrived on campus, the group of people she encountered yesterday caught her at the front gate and started to question her.

"Hey what's your problem?"

"Yeah, slapping people is horrible. You didn't even apologize to Weiss."

"You think you're better than us, huh?" Ruby couldn't answer. She didn't know what to say. This was the kind of thing she wanted to avoid. Incursions with people that only antagonized her to make them feel higher and mightier than they actually were.

"Hey, you deaf or what?" The guy raised his hand in an attempt to thump her on the head when his wrist was grabbed from behind. He turned around and saw Weiss. Ruby looked up at this and saw that her cheek was still a little red. That slap was a lot deadlier than she anticipated it to be.

"Why are you guys bothering her?"

"What are you talking about? She's the one that slapped you. We're just trying to make her apologize."

"Yeah, it's obvious that she's the one who made the mistake. Shortstack, apologize now!" Ruby dropped her head in silence.

"Enough! This getting ridiculous. I can believe you guys are doing this. And what's more ridiculous is that you don't even realize that you're the one who should be apologizing to her." Their mouths opened and their eyes went to a slant.

"Eh?! Why should we apologize?" Weiss brushed her hair to the side and walked to Ruby.

"I'm truly sorry if these guys made you feel bad. If there's anything I can do to lessen this little fiasco, I'd be more than willing."

"Um, thank you," Ruby said with a whisper.

"Sorry, did you say something?" Ruby's face turned bright red as she gripped her bag and stormed off to class. "It's nothing." The group of people watched her leave and were still confused by Weiss' comment.

"Weiss, we don't get you. Why should we be the ones to apologize when she was the one who slapped you?" Weiss looked them in the eyes and they all stood up straight in fear.

"If you guys can't figure that out, I don't know if I could call you my friends." She closed her eyes and headed off to her classroom in silence. Her friends who were left behind watched her leave in her magnificent fashion and could only feel lost about what was happening. They didn't what they did. They could only think about what Ruby did.

During the morning classes, Ruby was so scared and nervous. She was thinking about what happened to her before she got to class. However, it wasn't the expected thing. She was thinking about how that girl who she slapped stood up for her. Why did she do that? Shouldn't she feel hatred towards her since she was the one who slapped her? All of Ruby's troubles were revolving around that slap. That's when she started to question herself again. Was it right to slap her like that? She didn't do anything wrong. It was simply out of frustration that Ruby did that to her. She slammed her head on her desk as morning classes came to an end.

The lunch bell rang and Ruby immediately headed off to her normal lunch spot. She made it into the hall and kept her head down. She thought this would make it easier to avoid those people who were giving her a hard time. Things were already difficult for her and she just wanted things to calm down. When she neared the end of her walk inside of the building, she turned the corner and bumped into someone walking the other way. The shock of this event caused her to let go of her lunch box. However, the person in front of her grabbed it out of the air before it fell to the ground.

"Sorry about that, I was being…" That person stopped mid-sentence. When Ruby looked up, she saw that it was that same girl that was revolving around her problems. "I guess we can't really meet on normal terms." Weiss immediately switched to a comical tone that took Ruby off guard.

"U-Um…"

"Hey um… I _am_ really sorry about what's been going on. Guys in high school aren't the smartest or the most mature beings in the world. I hope you can understand." Ruby nodded her head. Weiss gently handed the lunch box back to Ruby who took slowly. "So what are you having for lunch?"

"Rice. The other stuff my mom prepared for me."

"Oooo, that sounds nice."

"Yeah." Ruby started to distance herself from the conversation and Weiss took notice of this.

"Well, I won't interrupt your lunch any more than I already have. I guess I'll see you around." Weiss started to walk off. "See ya." Ruby's eyes shot open as she walked that girl walk off on her own. For some reason, she was able to hold that conversation for a long time. Although she didn't say anything, she was present the entire time which was a pretty big accomplishment.

Lunch was pretty fun for Ruby. Her afternoon classes were okay. She just wanted everything to be over so she could get head home. She was too flustered to focus on school so heading home was the only way she could feel normal again. Once school was over, she packed up her things and ran out the door. However, it wasn't that simple. As she turned the corner to head out of the building, she ran into Weiss yet again. Only this time, her body nearly stuck to hers instead of falling back.

"So, um, I don't really know what to say this time." Ruby was silent. Her eyes peered over to the side, wanting to leave at that moment.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." Ruby stormed off beside her, but Weiss grabbed her by the wrist before she could escape.

"Are you trying to avoid me?" Ruby didn't say anything. "If I did something wrong, you can tell me. I don't like knowing that you might hate me because I did something wrong." Ruby remained silent. As she did, her face got redder and redder. It was most likely due to the fact that Weiss still had a grip on her wrist. "Oh sorry." Ruby retracted her hand and brought it into her chest.

"It's okay."

"Hey, would you mind taking this?" Ruby turned her head and saw Weiss handing her a small piece of paper. "I feel bad about this so take this. If you ever want to talk or bag on me, I wouldn't mind. It would ease my own mind that you were letting your feelings out."

"I'm sorry, but I don't need this. Bye." Ruby grabbed her things and walked off. Before she could get away. Weiss slipped the piece of paper into her bag and watched her leave.

"Bye."

Ruby stormed off in a hurry and didn't stop until she got home. No one was home so she went up to her room and threw her things on the ground. She then jumped onto her bed and dug her face into her pillow. Even though she was finally home, she was still flustered. For some reason, she was still thinking about Weiss. That girl left an impression on her that she didn't understand. She encountered her numerous times in the last two days and not a single time went by where she didn't think about it. Her normal perceptions of people didn't apply to that girl no matter how much she wanted to believe in it.

People were cruel in nature. They walked badly behind people's backs. People always try to top other people in other things.

Aside from the last thing, Weiss wasn't like that. She was honest, caring, and very friendly. It was just strange seeing this behavior in a high school student. Her older sister always talked about how high school were ruthless so she had to be on the lookout for them. As she thought about it, something new came into her head. Maybe this was just an act to seem like a nice person. Just because she seemed like that towards her doesn't mean that she was normally like that. At that moment, Ruby immediately got discouraged.

There was no way that this girl was truly nice… Again, she was a high school girl.

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 3

No Chance at Hiding

Ruby had a new way of acting going into her next day of school. She was going to vanish. These past few days, she's been kind of a person of interest and not in a good way. However, she was going to change that. She was going to stay quiet and in the shadows. If no one saw her, there would be no reason as to talk to her and start something she didn't want to start. Once she got to school, she immediately executed her plan and did it to the best of her ability. When she made inside the academic building, she looked down the hall and somehow, she made eye contact with Weiss. She waved back at her, but she didn't acknowledge it. She just held onto her things and made her way into class. So far, things were going pretty well.

In class, the teacher didn't call on her once so that was another good thing. Her plan was slowly becoming effective. All she had to do was hold out for at least half a day more and the she would be in the clear. Because of this mentality, she constantly looked at the clock which made time only go by slower. When lunch came around, she quickly grabbed her things and headed off to her normal place. The bench was perfectly shaded which made things a little better. She opened up her lunch box and dug in.

"Hey, that looks really good." Before she could even eat, a voice stopped her mid-bite. She turned around slowly and saw the window open with someone leaning out the other end. It was Weiss.

"Ah!" Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Oh sorry, did I scare you?"

"Uh, no, you're fine."

"Haha, may I join you?" Ruby was a little hesitant. She already had the plan to be as invisible as possible and this girl was intruding on her master plan.

"Uh, I guess you could."

"Sweet." Out of nowhere, she jumped through the window and took the seat next to Ruby. At that moment, Ruby went silent as she ate her food. She ate silently and looked at the ground. For some reason, this girl made her feel so weak. She couldn't muster up anything to say and she felt that the slightest movement would give off the wrong impression so she just sat there motionless. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Weiss finally broke through the silence. "You're not much of a talker, are you?"

"N-Not really. Sorry. I can't really talk to anyone anymore."

"Why is that?"

"It's just hard. I can never say what I want to because they only hear what they want to hear. My opinions mean nothing anymore. That's why remaining quiet is the easiest thing to do."

"It didn't seem that hard just now."

"I don't really understand what you're talking about." At that moment, Ruby realized that those words came out of her without her even realizing it. She turned her head and saw Weiss smiling at her. Her face immediately turned red as she swung around the other way. When she did, her palms started to get all sweaty. She had no idea why, but she didn't want Weiss to find out so she kept her back towards her.

For the rest of lunch, no other words were said. Some occasional glances were exchanged, but nothing more. Weiss was smart enough to realize Ruby wasn't in the mood to talk so she finished up her food and packed up. When she rose to her feet, Ruby turned the other way to finally acknowledge her.

"Well, it was nice having lunch with you Ruby. I can kind of see why you eat out here by yourself. It's so soothing and the scenery is great. Let's do this again sometime. Bye." Weiss waved her hand and walked off. On the other hand, Ruby just sat there and watched her leave. To her, Weiss was just strange. What was causing that girl to be so nice to her after what she did to her? When she looked down, she saw that all of her food was gone so she packed up and headed back to her locker. She walked into the building when she overheard some conversations that were clearly about her.

"Did you see that girl just now?"

"Yeah, she got to have lunch with Weiss. How lucky could she get?"

"It's not luck. What are you talking about? Weiss is just doing that to increase her popularity. It's not she actually enjoys to be with that loser."

"I guess you're right." Ruby put her things in her locker, but then immediately ran back to her lunch spot. She kept her head down and to herself the entire trip back.

When she returned to her bench, she stared at the ground with her hands over her face. All of this talk about her and none of it was good. She wasn't doing anything to cause this. It was the world around her, and yet, the world wanted to include her in everything. She didn't want this. Her goal was to be as invisible as possible. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. This girl, Weiss, was the root cause of this problem. If she stopped encountering her, things would go by a lot smoother. That was it. She slammed her fists on the bench and finally came up with a solution.

"I have to tell her to leave me alone."

The rest of the day went by quick. Afternoon classes were a breeze and Ruby was finally ready to set things straight. She waited at the exit of the school, constantly looking down the hall for a sign of Weiss. It took a while, but eventually, she appeared as grand as ever. She tightened her fists and took a deep breath. There was no going back now. She marched towards her until it was clear that she was becoming a road block.

"Oh, hey Ruby. Would you wanna walk home together?" Ruby gritted her teeth and thought up everything she needed to say.

"Stop bothering me. I don't want to see you, hear you, or anything like that. Stay away from me. I would appreciate it so much. Goodbye." And with those words, Ruby stormed off in silence. Meanwhile, Weiss and her group watching were speechless. That was completely random and yet, it seemed as if Weiss was dumped by someone she wasn't even dating.

"What the heck was that?"

"Hm, I don't know. I didn't do anything wrong." Some of her friends on the side started to chatter amongst themselves about what happened. Ever since the first encounter with Ruby, they didn't like her and this just made them hate her even more.

As she walked home, she realized that it was best not to go so steamy or else her parents would ask what was up. She changed course and headed to the nearest convenience store where she hung out for a while. She grabbed a Popsicle and some other snacks before heading out. Arriving at dusk and leaving past sunset, the street lights were on and the area was cold. She reverted her course for home and started to walk.

However, it wasn't what she was expecting. She could tell that someone was following behind her. Maybe they were just heading in the same general direction. She took some turns and the person was still following. That's when Ruby grew suspicious. She quickened her pace, but was immediately cut off by someone standing in front of her. She looked to her right and saw someone else standing there. Her only option was left. She turned into a playground park where there was one other person waiting for her. She stopped and looked around to see all of her escape routes were blocked. As her four pursuers stepped into the light, she noticed that they were in school uniforms similar to hers.

"Please, just let me go home."

"You know, we're getting sick and tired of seeing the way you treat Weiss. She hasn't done a single thing wrong and here you are bagging on her and making her feel bad."

"You're lucky Weiss is a nice person or else you would have got it by now."

"However, we're not so nice." The two guys standing beside her grabbed her bags and tossed them on the ground. Then, the girl behind her shoved her to the ground and Ruby crashed hard into the dirt.

"This is for everything you've done to Weiss."

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 4

A Confession

At that moment, the four students started to harass Ruby in ways that she couldn't believe. They kicked sand in her face, hit her with their bags, and called her horrible names. Unfortunately, the only thing Ruby could do was protect herself as best as she could from the things that were going on around her.

"You deserve this, you piece of shit."

"What you're feeling right now… It's how Weiss has been feeling all of this time because of you." Ruby closed her eyes and put her hands over her ears as she tried to block out the outside world. She didn't want any of this, but it was happening anyway. All of her plans to remain hidden from everyone was failing. Now, there was nowhere for her to go. She was forced to lie there and wait until their little tantrum was over.

A couple of minutes went by and they still weren't stopping. It almost seemed as if they were just warming up. One of the girls picked her up off the ground and slapped her across the face. Then, the other one came up next to her shoved her to the ground. For Ruby, there was no point in fighting back. It would only make them hate her even more so she had to remain vulnerable to their attacks. However, she just wanted it to stop. They were going overboard with this whole thing, but she was the only one who was seeing that.

"Enough!" Suddenly, a voice broke out over all of the chaos. Ruby slowly cracked open her eyes to see something out of the blue. It was a familiar figure with white hair fending off the four students in front of her. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean? We're getting back at this girl."

"Yeah, she's been nothing but trouble towards you and it's unfair how you're not doing anything about it."

"Unfair? What you're doing is unfair. Four against one…" She suddenly shook her head with a depressed look. "Get out of here."

"Huh?"

"I said leave. I don't want to see you guys… ever." The four of them looked at each other and finally left. Once they left, the figure in front of Ruby knelt down in front of her and cradled her in their arms. "Are you okay?"

"Mmm." Ruby couldn't really respond since she was hurting both physically and emotionally.

"Do you have a phone?" She slowly pointed to her bag and the person grabbed it and looked for her phone.

"Weiss?" She found the phone and dialed it as quickly as she could. It only took seconds before the other end of the call picked up.

"Hi, my name is Weiss Schnee and I'm with your daughter Ruby. We kind of hung out with our club, but we got released just now so I was wondering if she could spend the night with me." There was some indistinct chatter that Ruby couldn't hear, but she did know that it was good news as Weiss picked her up off the ground and carried her back to her house.

"Weiss?"

When she got home, her butlers were there to greet here. However, they noticed the girl in her arms and immediately questioned what was going on. Weiss simply said to forget about it as she headed up to her room. She laid Ruby down on her bed ad got to work. She grabbed ice packs, wet towels, and bandages just in case there was an injury that needed to be attended to. She cleaned her up in record time, but Ruby was still unresponsive. She was alive, obviously, but she just wouldn't open her eyes. Tears were forming, but she was holding them in as best as she could. Weiss knew that it was best to give her some space so she got up and left the room. It wasn't until then when Ruby finally opened her eyes. She sat up and let the tears roll out.

Why is this happening to me? I just want to go back to how things used to be. I would always be alone and I wouldn't have to worry about a single thing. I would go to school, get work done, and come home without a single bump in the road… And yet, all of this stuff is happening. Why?

Ruby suddenly clenched her fists and slammed them on the bed.

It all has to do with Weiss. If I wouldn't have turned around that one day, I wouldn't be in this mess. If I would have just let it go, I would be at home without a worry in the world. Instead, I'm at some stranger's house making them care for me. This isn't right at all. Ruby continued to think about all of this for a few more minutes until the door opened up and Weiss walked through with her normal façade.

"Oh hey, you're awake. Not like you were dead or anything, but…" At that moment, Ruby cowered into the corner of the room as if there was some kind of monster approaching her.

"What am I doing here? Why did you bring me here?"

"Well, you were nearly jumped. I didn't want to take you home or else your parents would be worried about you. I couldn't let that happen since this is all of my fault." Suddenly, Ruby's hostile aura calmed down.

"Your fault? How?"

"I've been bothering you ever since I've met you and that's caused those… idiots to gang up on you. I'm so sorry."

"It's nothing to apologize for." Ruby turned her head and hugged her legs.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said quietly.

"You know, you're a very interesting person. I don't think I've ever met someone quite as interesting as you."

"I know you're just trying to find a better word for weird. Just go ahead and say it. I won't care."

"No, I'm not. You're totally different than everyone else."

"There it is. The "different" word. I don't care if you bag on me. I've already gone through enough today so anymore wouldn't do anything to me. You know what, I don't even know why I'm here. I should be…" Out of nowhere, Weiss turned her head and stole a kiss from her lips. Ruby was so caught off guard by this that she examined the whole thing Weiss had her eyes closed as she enjoyed the moment while Ruby was forced to sit there and wait until the moment was over. After a few seconds, Weiss broke away from the kiss and saw that Ruby's cheeks were bright red. "W-W-What was that for?!"

"Ruby, I don't know you at all, but you've somehow caught my attention. I would like to get to know even more. I, um… I guess what I'm trying to say is: Will you go out with me?"

…

The next day of school was an interesting one. Ruby and Weiss entered the academic building at the same time and were intercept by a couple of her friends.

"Weiss, what the hell are you doing? Why are you hanging out with this trash?" Ruby simply turned her head. Weiss did the same. She motioned Ruby to head down a different hallway and she followed her instructions.

"What is going on?" The two of them tried escaping from sight, but it was too late. One of the girls chased after them and pulled Weiss by the shoulder.

"What are you doing? I thought we were friends. I thought you trusted us." At that moment, Weiss lost her cool and finally let it out.

"We're no longer friends. My friends would never have done the things you guys did. I am dating Ruby and that's that. I don't care what you think about it because Ruby is special to me. I hope I never see you guys again. Have a nice day." They walked off in silence and left the others in the dust.

"Um, Weiss? Why are we doing this? I don't want to cause any problems."

"I know. This is anything worth causing a problem. We're just walking through the hallways like we always do. Just calm down. Nothing is any different than how it normally is." Ruby looked up at Weiss and saw a smile on her face. Unfortunately, Ruby couldn't do the same as she felt like there was something else going on that she wasn't aware of. She unknowingly took a step forward in her life to a place where she had no idea actually existed.

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 5

Unknown Intentions

 **Note:** I'm really sorry not updating this story, but a couple of days ago, I underwent surgery and that prevented me from spending time at my computer. Anyway, enough of the boring stuff, here's the chapter and I hope you all enjoy it. Please let me know how I'm doing. I don't want to let down my White Rose fans.

Ruby and Weiss were walking together until the bell to class rang. Weiss said her goodbye and went her way to her class. Ruby had to go the other way so she turned around and headed to class. However, right as she started to walk, she overheard conversations that were just sickening to listen to.

"Did you see that girl?"

"Yeah, she was with Weiss just now. How does that even work?"

"I wouldn't think too much of it. Weiss is probably just trying to date everyone on campus. That's why she's so popular."

"What do you mean?"

"Weiss has dated every single guy on campus and now she's trying to make her staple in the forbidden girl love."

"Wow, she's so scandalous."

"But who cares? She's so cool and so pretty. I'd love to date her."

"I know, me too." Ruby finally passed the two girls while gritting her teeth. It all made sense. There was no way a girl like that would actually want to go out with a girl like her. Ruby was as plain as it could get and hearing those things from those other girls just clarified everything about the whole situation.

During her morning classes, she was only thinking about Weiss and what she was trying to do. As she thought about it, it only hardened her view of people being fake. They all had ulterior goals and Weiss was the same as the rest. Unfortunately, thinking about all of this only distracted from classwork. When her teacher called on her, she was completely blank. That only caused everyone else in her class to talk about her. They were smart enough to whisper so that she couldn't hear, but it was obvious what they were talking about. Weiss had a huge network of connections in school so this news of her dating Weiss spread pretty quickly.

When the lunch bell rang, Ruby quickly grabbed her things and headed for her usual spot. As she was walking there, she bumped into Weiss while she was turning the corner.

"Oh hey, Ruby. Hey, about lunch, I can't make it today, but I was wondering if we could walk home together." Ruby didn't really respond. She just turned her head and remained silent. "Alright, we'll meet in front of the school gate. See ya." After that, Weiss stormed off to some random part of the school.

Meanwhile, Ruby made it to her spot and started to eat. However, it wasn't a simple lunch. She was still thinking about Weiss and what all of this meant. She wanted to know how many people this girl's actually dated. She wanted to know why this girl was doing this kind of thing. On the other hand, Ruby wasn't the kind of person who was interested in relationships so this was kind of weird for her anyway. She didn't even know what relationships entitled. Whatever it meant, she knew that she would be horrible at it.

As she continued to think to herself, something interesting came out of nowhere. Why did Weiss help her that night? Why was she even in that area at that time? That night, Weiss took her to her house and it wasn't in the same area as hers. It was in the richer part of the residential area so her being there by coincidence wasn't logical.

Getting lost in thought was typical for Ruby, but this time was a little different. She didn't even hear the class bell ring until she heard the students walking through the hall behind her. She then packed her things and headed back to class. Right as she stepped into the classroom, the whole room went silent. It was obvious that she was the topic of discussion and that they couldn't continue with her being in the room. Realizing this behavior only made Ruby harden her mentality of what needed to be done. She had to be invisible. That was the only way to get through life without pain and suffering. The reason for her current pain and suffering was due to one person: Weiss. Eliminating that one factor would make her life so much easier and that's when Ruby finally figured out what she needed to do.

…

Afternoon classes were finally over and Ruby was slow to pack up her things. As she did, she overheard a few more conversations about her which only solidified her plan. She had to do it no matter what. Once all of her things were packed up, she took a deep breath and headed to the front gate. She was the first one to arrive which gave her some time to focus on what she needed to say. Unfortunately, her planning time was cut short when she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.

"Hey Ruby, thanks for waiting." Weiss ran up to her and bent over onto her knees. "Today was a crazy one. How was your day?"

"Um Weiss, I need to talk to you."

"Perfect. We can talk and walk. Let's go." Weiss tried gesturing Ruby to leave with her, but Ruby held her ground and took a deep breath.

"No. I need to talk to you now." Weiss immediately stopped in her tracks and looked right at Ruby.

"Alright. What's up?" Ruby dropped her head and spoke her mind.

"I don't think we should be together." There was a pause in the conversation. Weiss didn't know what to say and Ruby was panicking a bit. She wasn't sure if she should continue with what she was going to say. "Before all of this started, my life was perfect. I never had to worry about it. I just had school and family. Now, all of these people are talking about me in horrible ways and I can't deal with it for much longer. I want things to go back to how they sued to be. Me being invisible and you being the person you always are."

"Why are you saying these things?"

"Because it's true. I've been teased, looked down on, and talked about in all sorts of ways. I don't want this to go on and the only way this will stop is if I stop being with you."

"But…"

"I'm sorry. Thank you for being so kind to me, but this must stop." At that moment, Ruby turned to head home. She kept her head down as a tear fell from her face. However, she was quickly forced to stop. A hand grabbed her from behind. It pulled her back and when she realized what had happened, Weiss pulled her in and kissed her on the lips. Ruby was so shocked by what was happening. Her eyes were open the entire time, but when Weiss broke away from the kiss, she saw that Ruby's face was bright red.

"Ruby, I love you."

"But…"

"But I ready to go through this hardship with you. Who cares what anyone says? They can think what they want. All you need to know is that I'll be here for you whenever you need me. Whenever you're sad, whenever you're alone… Whenever you need someone by your side, I'll be right there for you. This, I can promise you."

"But… Why?"

"Ever since I first saw you, you took my breath away. I couldn't describe the feeling, but love is the best way to put it. I love you. Let me be the one for you. You don't have to be alone anymore."

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 6

Getting Started

Over the weekend, Ruby was lost in her mind. She couldn't believe this was happening. All of this time, she was determined to be that person in the background that didn't mean anything and now, she was the front runner in the entire school. Weiss Schnee, the most popular girl in the school, had her eyes on Ruby and they were now going out. Unfortunately, Ruby didn't really know what that meant so she spent a lot of time going through it. She looked up everything she could about "dating," but nothing made sense. This only made her feel worse than things actually were.

Meanwhile, Weiss was also a little flustered. It's been a while since she's been in a real relationship and since it was with Ruby, she didn't want to mess this up. This girl was different; completely different from anyone she's ever met. And that alone made her question her own ability? She was wondering if she could make this girl happy. She wanted to know if she could change to be with this girl.

Both of them were curious about the most important thing: Do I love her?

…

When the next week of school came around, Ruby got up early and headed out the door. Right as she stepped outside, there was someone waiting for her. It was Weiss. Ruby's face immediately turned bright red as she tried to walk back into her house.

"Hey Ruby. I was wondering if you wanted to walk to school with me." She suddenly stopped right as she was about reach for the doorknob.

"W-Why are you here?"

"What are you talking about? I just told you why I'm here."

"I mean, I know why you're here, but… You live on the other side of the district. You didn't have to go out of your way to walk with me."

"But I wanted to walk with you." Ruby finally turned around and looked at Weiss. She had a sweet smile on her face as she was gesturing her to walk with her. Ruby finally mustered up the courage to walk with Weiss.

When they got to school, everyone was looking at them. However, the strange thing was that they weren't looking at Weiss. They were looking at Ruby. Everyone was looking at her with disgust. It was obvious that they didn't like her because she was with Weiss. This was such a new thing to her that she just bowed her head to try and space them all out.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Out of nowhere, Weiss took Ruby's hand and continued to walk down the hall where everyone could see them. On the other hand, Ruby was in complete shock at what was happening. Nowhere did she say that this was okay, but she wasn't really the kind of person who could share her opinion when Weiss was around. She just suck it up and continued on. It wasn't until Weiss walked Ruby to her classroom when they finally broke their hand holding. "Well, I'll see you after school. I can't make it to lunch today, but I'll still be thinking about you. Okay?"

"Mmm." Ruby was still too shy to look this girl in the eye. There was something about her that made Ruby feel weak at the knees, and almost outright vulnerable. The only thing that could make her feel even weaker was yet to come. Weiss leaned in and kissed Ruby on the cheek.

"Bye." Without another word, Weiss walked off to her class. Meanwhile, Ruby slowly brought her hand up to the place where Weiss kissed and could still feel the warmth from her lips. By now, she was completely lost for words or thoughts. Too many things were happening for her to understand the full extent of the situation so she simply walked into her classroom and took a seat as quietly as she could.

For the entirety of her morning classes, Ruby tried her hardest to focus on school, but the only thing she could think about was Weiss. The same thought was still running through her head: What made her so special? Ruby wasn't one to think highly of herself so it only made her wonder why Weiss wanted to be with her. Of course, Weiss stated this when she confessed, but Ruby was just confused. To her, there were so many handsome guys that Weiss could be with. On the other hand, many of the girls at her school were very pretty. And yet, Weiss chose her. The more she thought about, the more the idea of just going with it seemed to be a good idea.

Lunch was alright. She was all alone which meant silence and that was what she wanted after everything else that's been going on. Once that was over, she returned to class and got through her afternoon classes with much more ease. She only assumed that being alone calmed her down to the point of not worrying about it so much. When the final bell rang, she packed up her things and made her way to the front gate where Weiss was waiting for her. When she saw Ruby in sight, she smiled and gave her a friendly wave. Ruby didn't really acknowledge her, but Weiss knew that she was walking towards her. When they finally met up to walk home together, Weiss leaned in and kissed her on the cheek again. Now, Ruby was starting to feel something swelling up inside of her. She didn't know what it was, but she did know that it had something to do with this girl.

As they walked home, Weiss started off the conversation by asking her how her day was. Since Ruby was busy thinking about that internal feeling, she just gave Weiss simple one-word answers. This didn't really bother Weiss. She knew that Ruby was still a little shy about this whole thing and there was no need to rush her into being able to talk like normal so she just smiled and continued with her other questions.

After a few more minutes, they finally arrived at Ruby's house. For Ruby, she was just glad to be home. She would finally be able to be alone and think about what it all meant. Unfortunately, before she could through her front gate, Weiss grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards her. When Ruby realized what was happening, their lips were touching as they shared a kiss. At that moment, Ruby finally knew what she wanted to say. She roughly pushed Weiss off of her and did her best to hold her ground.

"Why do you do this?!"

"Do what?"

"Kiss me! You kiss me when I go to class, you kiss me when I see you after school, and now you just kissed me as we just said goodbye. Why?!"

"It's because I…"

"You're so inconsiderate. You don't even ask if it's alright with me. Don't you ever think that it might make me feel uncomfortable or something?" Weiss got a better look at Ruby and saw that tears were starting to roll down her face.

"Ruby, I kiss you because I want you to know my feelings towards you."

"Just stop it! I don't like it." Ruby ran her towards Weiss in an attempt to push her even further, but this time, Weiss grabbed her wrist out of the air and pinned it against the wall behind her. "What are you…" At that moment, Weiss stole another kiss from Ruby's lips. "Idiot! I just…" Again, Weiss pressed her lips against Ruby's.

"That one was because I have to say goodbye to you for another day." She kissed her again. "That one was in hopes that I would be able to see you again tomorrow." She kissed her again. "That one was to let you know that I love you and that I always want to be with you." Weiss leaned in for another kiss, but Ruby's other hand managed to stop her before she could.

"Okay. I get it."

"So will you kiss me back?" Weiss looked right into Ruby's eyes and this eye contact made Ruby weak at the knees. For some reason, this girl had such an overwhelming power that she couldn't match. "Huh? Will you do that for me?" Ruby suddenly closed her eyes and pushed her away.

"Good night." Weiss fell backwards and watched Ruby storm into her house.

"Good night Ruby."

Right at the entrance of her house, Ruby was on fire. Her face was bright red and she couldn't even stand up. She collapsed onto the floor as she went over what just happened between them. At first, it seemed like Weiss kissed her just to kiss her, but that look in her eyes told Ruby that she was being honest from the bottom of her heart. Those words she spoke told her that Weiss did feel something for her. It wasn't just for show. Finally, Ruby gently touched her lips with her fingers and could still feel the warmth that Weiss had left.

"I do want to kiss you, but… Ugh!"

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 7

Weiss' Friends

In the morning, the two of them walked to school as they normally did. However, Weiss restrained herself after what happened the night before. As honest as she was towards Ruby, she didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable about being with her. Also, she realized that there was no need to rush anything. As long as Ruby was happy, Weiss would be happy too.

When they arrived at school, things immediately started to take a turn for the better. The amount of looks at Ruby were starting to decrease. Walking through the hall wasn't that big a deal anymore as people started to forget about this whole "Ruby and Weiss" thing. This alone put a smile on Ruby's face. Weiss quickly noticed this and had to interject on Ruby's little moment.

"What's up?"

"Huh? Nothing. It's nothing."

"Haha, you're so cute when you're all flustered." Ruby's face turned even redder than before.

"Don't make fun of me."

"Hey Weiss!" The two of them turned their heads to see two people walking towards them. One was a girl and the other was a boy. At that moment, Ruby had a flashback to where those other kids harassed her in that park. This made Ruby cower behind Weiss.

"Ruby?"

"Hey Weiss, what's up?"

"Jaune, Pyrrha. I haven't see you guys all year. Where have you been? I was starting to get the feeling that you transferred schools or something."

"Nah, we would never do that. We love this school way too much, and plus, we couldn't leave you alone."

"Aw, thanks." As they reunited, Pyrrha noticed Ruby right behind Weiss looking at her with wondering eyes.

"Hi, what's your name?" Ruby was caught off guard by that question. The only thing that was going through her mind was why this girl was trying to talk to her.

"Oh yeah, we heard something going on with you Weiss. We weren't really sure and we didn't want to speculate so we decided to ask you in person. What's going on?"

"Ruby, you want to introduce yourself?" None of them could tell, but Ruby was in a battle of introducing herself or just staying quiet. Unfortunately, the side of her that wanted to stay quiet won. "She's not much of a talker. This is Ruby Rose. Ruby, this is Jaune and Pyrrha. Probably, my two most favorite friends."

"Yep, but I wouldn't worry about Pyrrha. Weiss obviously likes me more, right," Jaune asked as he nudged her shoulder.

"Keep thinking that Jaune. Pyrrha is way cooler than you."

"Ah, wow! Talk about being cold right in the morning." The three of them laughed it off, but the topic was still on Ruby. Pyrrha bent over a tad and held out her hand to Ruby.

"It's nice to meet you Ruby. I hope we could be good friends." This time, her better side managed to win the fight. She slowly stuck out her hand and grabbed Pyrrha's hand to shake it. As they shook hands, Pyrrha gave her a warm smile that suddenly made Ruby walk out from behind Weiss' back.

"I'm Jaune. Looking forward to being good friends too." Jaune took a less modest approach, but Ruby managed to return the favor.

"Don't worry about Jaune. He's always weird. In time, you'll be able to get used to it." At that moment, the most random thing happened. Ruby gave Pyrrha a smile. Ruby, herself, didn't even know she did, but something inside of her told her that it felt good. After that little moment, the class bell rang and their group suddenly split up. Ruby headed to her classroom while Weiss and the other two headed to theirs.

As morning classes began, Ruby found a sense of energy hidden within herself. It was obvious that it came from Jaune and Pyrrha. She found it so surprising that there were other people like Weiss would were genuine. However, she still maintained her precautious approach. She didn't know much about them, but was determined to make sure that these "friends" could actually be people she could call "friends." The more she thought about it, the more she wanted class to end so that she could spend some time with them. It wasn't because she liked them. She just wanted to confirm her beliefs and speculations.

Once the lunch bell rang, Ruby packed up her things and headed to her normal spot. On the way there, she always runs into Weiss so that was her plan. As she arrived at the usual spot Weiss was, she saw Jaune and Pyrrha talking with her.

"So what are you doing for lunch?"

"Well, usually I eat lunch with Ruby, but today, I have to help with some of the class setup during the afternoon classes."

"Aw, that sucks. I was hoping we could catch up during lunch."

"Don't worry. We have all year for that. On the other hand, why don't you guys eat with Ruby? She knows this awesome place that's really calm." They turned around to see Ruby just on the outside of their conversation.

"Hey Ruby, would you mind us joining you?"

"N-Not at all."

"Sweet. Let's get going. I wanna have some time after I finish eating." They parted ways and eventually made it to Ruby's lunch spot. They all took their seats and pulled out their lunches. Jaune immediately dug into his food while Ruby and Pyrrha were on the slower side of things. As they did this, Pyrrha noticed that Ruby was a little nervous about this. Since she just met her, she didn't want to screw anything up. And yet, she wanted Ruby to like her since she was the one who's been the talk of the school involving Weiss.

"Hey Ruby, how'd you meet Weiss?" She was silent at first since this answer was still a little awkward for her.

"Um, I actually… Um, I… I kind of slapped her across the face one day. That's how it happened." Jaune suddenly spit out his food in laughter.

"Are you serious?"

"What did she do to you? Weiss is known for doing some pretty stupid things."

"Jaune, come on. Don't fill her head with false things. Did she do something to you?"

"Not really… One of her friends tried lifting up my skirt and then when I thought I slapped him, Weiss was there instead. I felt so bad, and yet, she says that it's alright." She suddenly went back to her food. Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other with confused looks. Jaune was more confused than Pyrrha so she took control of the conversation.

"Ruby, do you trust Weiss?" Midway through taking a bite of her food, she stopped and looked at Pyrrha.

"Trust? What do you mean by that?"

"We've known Weiss for a long time and it's obvious that she's a social butterfly. That guy who did that to you is definitely not an actual friend of Weiss. Same goes for most of the other people Weiss hangs out with. Weiss just tries to make everyone happy. I think that's why you're so hesitant when you're talking to us."

"N-No, that's not true. You guys are… nice." Pyrrha set down her food and grabbed Ruby's hands.

"We're Weiss' best friends. She trust us and we trust her. If she trusts you and feels something special about you, we want to support that. So if you ever need to talk when she's not around, we'll be here for you. That's what friends are for."

At that moment, Ruby's eyes shot wide open as she turned her head the other way. Already, these two were confirming her belief that they were good people. They were so similar to Weiss. Honest on the outside with no sign of falseness on the inside. Also, she thought about their initial encounter and not for a second did the two of them give her a dirty look. Was it finally time to accept people back into her life? Was it time to be honest with the people around her? These were the things that made her this way and yet, after just one year, she might be able to become a normal person with friends. She took a deep breath and looked right at them.

"You know, I don't have any friends." The two of them suddenly became very interested in this. "Weiss is the only person I actually talk to. Ever since I started high school, so many people were so mean and so fake that it was hard to me to get through it all. Eventually, I realized that being alone was the best thing to do. I just…" Out of nowhere, Pyrrha wrapped her arms around Ruby and hugged.

"Don't worry Ruby. We will never do anything like that to you." Jaune got up and joined them in their hug.

"Yeah, we're here for you so there's nothing to be afraid of."

Weiss. Jaune. Pyrrha. Three people she could actually be friends with. Was this a dream or reality? Whatever it was, Ruby was surprised that this was actually happening to her.

End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 8

The Other Friend

Slowly but surely, Ruby's relationship with Jaune and Pyrrha got a lot better. Things also started to get better with Weiss. Ruby was less nervous around her and Weiss continued to ease up on her. Weiss was starting to realize that Ruby was new to this so there was no reason to do something she wasn't comfortable with. Now, the four of them were enjoying their time together with a lot less awkwardness.

…

One day at the start of morning classes, Ruby's class got an announcement that surprised everyone. There was a transfer student. It was surprising because the year was already in full swing and yet, there was someone just coming in. however, Ruby didn't put much care into it. The new student was a tall boy with blue hair. His name was Neptune and he caught the attention of every girl in class… Every girl except for Ruby, of course.

When morning classes were over, Ruby packed up her things and made her way to the usual spot where Weiss was waiting for her. Only this time, there was something that caused a bump in the road.

"Hey, is that you Weiss?!" Ruby stopped dead in her tracks. She slowly turned her head to see the new student running towards Weiss with a smile on his face. "Oh my God, it is you. Damn, you look good. How long has it been?"

"It's definitely been awhile. I almost didn't recognize you. How have you been?"

"I've been great. Finally decided to bulk after all of those years."

"Haha, yeah. You were pretty scrawny back then."

"Oh come on, there's no need to be so mean. Hey, you wanna have lunch together? We should totally catch up."

"Actually, I was planning on having lunch…"

"Ah, don't worry about it. One day won't kill whoever you made plans with. Let's go." He grabbed Weiss' hand and pulled her along with him into the cafeteria. Meanwhile, Ruby was still in the middle of the hall examining the entire thing. Before she disappeared from sight, Weiss caught a glimpse of Ruby and tried to call out to her, but it was too late. Once she was gone, Ruby dropped her head and walked off to her usual lunch area.

During her walk, she was extremely sad. She didn't let it show on the outside, but on the inside, she wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear from all of the eyes in the world. This was the first time she was kind of happy to eat lunch with Weiss and to have her pulled away from her in front of her eyes was just heartbreaking. However, when she got to her spot, her spirits were lifted by the sight of Jaune and Pyrrha waiting for her.

"Hey Ruby, you're slow today. Come on, we waited for you."

"Y-You waited for me?"

"Of course. You're the one who showed us this place so it's only right to wait for the founder of our lunch spot." Ruby managed to muscle out a smile as she took her seat and pulled out her lunch. As she started to eat her lunch, the other two could easily feel something wrong with Ruby and decided to speak up.

"Hey Ruby, are you okay?"

"It's nothing." Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other and knew that she was lying.

"Is this about Weiss?" Ruby suddenly coughed up some of her food. They totally hit the bull's eye. "We've already told you that you can talk to us if you ever need to." Ruby wiped off her mouth and took a deep breath.

"Will you please listen to me?"

"Of course. That's what friends are for."

"Okay, well, it is about Weiss." Without Ruby noticing, they fist pumped at each other and quickly returned to the sounds of her words. "Lately, Weiss and I have been able to act closer to each other which is great and all, it's just that I don't feel right."

"You don't feel right? What do you mean?"

"Weiss has always been so honest with me. Her feelings, I mean. On the other hand, I'm nowhere near to her caliber and I feel bad about it. I do like Weiss and all. I just don't know how to convey it to her. She's even restrained herself from doing certain things with me because I'm just not comfortable yet. I don't want her to think that I don't anything to do with her because I do. Being with her always makes me feel better, but when I really think about it, I get all flustered and bail from everything she does or says. I don't know what to do." She dug her head in her hand and sighed. Meanwhile, Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other and tried to come up with the best thing to say to her.

"I don't know how helpful this will be, but maybe you should be honest with her as well." Ruby suddenly raised her head and looked at Pyrrha.

"Honest?"

"Yeah, you said that Weiss has always been honest with you. Haven't you tried being honest with her?"

"Well, yeah. I told her that I liked her too. Isn't that enough?" At that moment, Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other and started to laugh.

"Ruby, I know you mean well, but that's not the only thing you have to do."

"What should I do then?"

"Well, that's all between you and Weiss. We can't really help you with that, but maybe you can do something for Weiss."

"Like what?" As much help as they wanted to be, they couldn't do everything for her. They sighed and gave her their most honest answer.

"We don't know, Ruby. Just something that would make Weiss really happy. Think really hard about something that Weiss has been asking for, but has never gotten. It doesn't even have to be an object per se. Just something that would let her know that you feel the same way about her."

At that moment, the class bell rang and the three of them packed up. Ruby was on the slower side of things since she was busy thinking about what Jaune and Pyrrha told her. "Something that would make her happy. Something she's been asking for, but hasn't received." She thought about it, but wasn't able to come up with anything. She didn't really ask Weiss a lot of things in order to know the answer to this riddle. As she made her way down the hall, she managed to bump into Weiss who managed to escape the confines of the cafeteria.

"Hi Weiss."

"Hi Ruby. I'm sorry for not making it to lunch. You see, I…"

"It's okay. I saw what happened." She didn't mean to say it like this, but it seemed as if Ruby was disappointed in Weiss' choice.

"I promise to make it up to you."

"Hey Weiss, I'll walk you to your class. Come on." The same guy from before grabbed her by the hand and pulled her away from Ruby.

"Ruby, I'll meet you by the gate when school's over, okay? I'm sorry." Once again, she watched Weiss be dragged off without her being by her side. She sighed again and headed off to class.

For the remainder of the day, Ruby thought about what she could give to Weiss in order for her to know she felt the same way. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anything. Weiss seemed like a rich girl so there didn't seem to be anything that she could get for her. But then, Ruby suddenly thought about Pyrrha's words and remembered that she said that it didn't have to be an object. And then she had another recollection. A few nights ago, Weiss reconfirmed her love for Ruby with all of those kisses and then she asked if Ruby felt the same way. Instead of kissing her back, she ran off. That's when Ruby finally came up with something. Was the solution to my problems?

Once school was done, Weiss quickly packed up her things and made her way to the gate. She already broke one promise with Ruby today so she wanted to make it up to her by walking home with her and explaining the whole thing. As she waited, Neptune met up with her once again.

"Hey Weiss, you wanna walk home?"

"I'm sorry, but I've made plans with someone else."

"You said this before. One time won't kill whoever it is you're making plans with. Let's go." He tried grabbing her hand to walk her away from the gate, but she suddenly slapped him away and stood her ground.

"I've had enough Neptune. I told you I've made plans with someone else. Are you going to respect that or I am going to force you to leave on your own?"

"Alright, sorry. I'll catch you later then." He was shot down in such fashion. The other students who were heading home caught the whole scene and couldn't help but talk bad about him. Obviously, he didn't know that Weiss was already taken by someone else. He turned around and headed home as if nothing happened. This finally gave Weiss some space to wait for Ruby. Once she spotted her, she stood straight up and smiled.

"Hey Ruby, you ready to go…" Out of nowhere, Ruby grabbed Weiss' tie and pulled her in for a kiss. This caught Weiss by surprise that she had to keep her eyes open. She didn't fight back or anything. She was just so surprised. Meanwhile, everyone else saw what happened and gasped. This was such a bold move on Ruby's part and she allowed everyone to witness it. When she ran out of air, she broke away from the kiss and let go of her tie.

"I'm sorry Weiss. I thought I didn't have to do anything while being in a relationship, but…"

"Ruby, you just kissed me."

"Yeah, because you've always been so honest with me so I thought…" She couldn't finish her sentence as Weiss pulled her into her body and squeezed her as hard as she could.

"You don't need to do any more than what you're doing. But still, that made me really happy. Thank you." Weiss kissed the top of Ruby's head and smiled. Meanwhile, Ruby was burning up with embarrassment. She managed to get through her plan, but now, she felt so small and so weak.

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 9

No Smooth Sailing

 **Note:** I hope you're all enjoying the story. This is getting a lot more attention than I thought it would so I'm going to try my best to keep the quality of this story at an all-time high. Disregarding that, enjoy the update and please let me know how I'm doing.

A couple of days later, Weiss came up with the perfect idea of going on a date. The only bad thing was that when she suggested it to Ruby, she was completely lost for wards. This was their first time ever doing something like this so of course Ruby would be a little nervous. When she tried to suggest something else, Weiss simply reassured her that it would be fine. That was the worst thing about Weiss… her stubbornness. With that, there was nothing Ruby could do except go along with it and hope that nothing weird happened.

On the day of their date, Ruby arrived at the place they were supposed to meet, but Weiss was late. This didn't really sit well with her since she was the one who made the plans to have a date. It wasn't until a minute or so later when Weiss finally showed up.

"Sorry Ruby, did I make you wait long?"

"No, it's fine." She tried to brush it off even though it made her a little sad.

"Are you sure?" Ruby gave her a little nod. "Okay, well, I guess we can start this thing. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. This is my first time going on a…" She suddenly stopped her train of thought. "Never mind."

"Oh, well let's just head into town. I'm sure we'll able to figure out something fun to do." Weiss turned her body and started to walk off. Ruby followed close behind her, but felt a little nervous about this whole thing.

When they got into town, there were many things that they could have done, but Ruby was just too shy for anything. However, Weiss didn't let this show on her face. Although she wanted to use this time to try and open Ruby up to more things, she didn't want to force it because Ruby wasn't the kind of person to handle change very well. The good thing about this little date of theirs was that Ruby was trying her hardest to not be a nuisance. She kept a smile on her face and did everything Weiss asked her to do that was within her abilities. After some time, they eventually settled down on a bench and enjoyed the view. As Weiss took a look at Ruby, she noticed that she had a struggled look on her face.

"Ruby, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You know, I feel kind of bad about this?"

"About what?"

"I did all of this for my own selfish gain, but you didn't really take a liking to it."

"No, it's fine. I just don't go out a lot so all of this was a bit new for me. You don't need to feel that bad. It was actually kind of fun, I guess." This little reassurance on Ruby's part put a smile on her face.

"Next time, I promise we'll do whatever you want to do." Ruby smiled back which eased the mood.

"Weiss, is that you?" The two of them looked up to see a girl and a guy looking down at them.

"Emerald, what are you doing here?"

"I was just on a date with my boyfriend, Mercury. Mercury, this is Weiss, one of my oldest friends." He stuck out his hand and Weiss returned the gesture. "So what are you doing here?"

"Funny coincidence, I'm on a date with my girlfriend, Ruby. Ruby, this is Emerald." Emerald stuck out her hand, but Ruby was a little hesitant on returning the gesture. After a few seconds, she retracted her hand and returned her look to Weiss.

"Hey, we were actually planning on going to play some laser tag. Did you guys want to join us? It'll be fun." Weiss looked at Ruby who was still avoiding eye contact with Emerald.

"Let's try it out. If anything goes wrong, I'll take full blame for it." Weiss stood up from the bench and grabbed Ruby's hand to pull her away.

When they got to laser tag arena, they quickly suited up and prepared for the game. Ruby and Weiss were on one team while Emerald and Mercury were on the other team. Before they started, Weiss reassured Ruby that she would protect her, but when the whole gun fight started, Ruby was the one who protected Weiss. Every time Weiss was about to get shot, Ruby came out of nowhere and took down her enemy. She managed to stop Mercury and Emerald before they could get to them too. With the help of Ruby's surprising skill in laser tag, their team won easily.

Once the game was done, they all exited the rink with smiles on their faces. Ruby was the happiest amongst all of them. When they all met up, their immediate response was that they needed something to drink. Ruby insisted that she would do that for them so she went off by herself. However, Emerald followed behind her without her knowing. She walked over to the concession stand and bought some drinks. That's when Emerald revealed herself to her.

"So you're going out with Weiss?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"You guess so? What kind of response is that?"

"I don't know. I'm not very smart when it comes to this kind of thing so I'm just taking it as it goes. Weiss has been really helpful though. She…"

"Why are you going out with her?"

"Huh?"

"A girl like you doesn't deserve to be with a girl like her. You're just making her look bad. Let me give you some advice. She's just doing that to increase her popularity. Weiss would never actually want to be with someone like you. Take it from someone who actually went out with her. We went further than you'll ever go." At that moment, Ruby widened her eyes and dropped her head.

"Here are your drinks." Ruby turned around and walked towards the exit. Emerald watched her leave and smiled. She then grabbed the drinks and returned to the other two.

"Alright, here are the drinks."

"Thanks. Wait, where's Ruby?"

"Oh, she's such a party pooper. She just left."

"What do you mean she left?"

"She's gone. Don't worry about her. Let's keep having some fun." Emerald attempted to get comfy with Weiss, but she brushed her away and ran towards the exit. "Where are you going?"

"We're done here. I'm going to find Ruby." After that, she left the two of them alone and ran to find Ruby.

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 10

Their Struggles

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I'm back. I'm sorry for having that off week. Normally, I would try to work around it, but this was just something entirely different. Anyway, enough of my life, here's the update and I hope you all enjoy.

Weiss left Emerald and ran to find Ruby. She didn't really know where to start so she just went wherever she thought Ruby could be. She ran through the shopping district, back to her neighborhood, and that back towards the city. The longer she chased after her, the more worried she got. She didn't want Ruby to by herself after what happened. She wanted to make sure that Ruby didn't get the wrong idea about whatever Emerald actually told her. This motivated her to make sure that she found Ruby before it was too late. When the sun started to approach the horizon, Weiss found herself walking towards the park and that's when she saw someone sitting on the swings all by themselves. It was Ruby so she quickly ran over and knelt down in front of her.

"Ruby, I'm so glad I found you. What are you doing her all by yourself?" She didn't reply. She just turned her head and made sure Weiss didn't see her eyes. "Hey, if something's bothering you, you can tell me. If it's about Emerald, I'll tell you anything you want to know." Ruby suddenly turned her head to face Weiss and Weiss saw Ruby's eyes red and puffy. "Oh my God, what did she say to you?"

"So I'm not your first girlfriend?" For some reason, hearing that question made Weiss' heart break a little. It took her some time to answer since this was obviously a sensitive topic.

"No, you're not… But that doesn't mean I don't love you anymore than my first."

"What was she to you?"

"Huh?"

"Did you love her? Was she special to you? Did she make you happy?" These questions Ruby was asking almost made it seem like someone else was asking them. Ruby never seemed to be too into the whole relationship and yet, she asking about things like this right in front of Weiss.

"I don't understand how love works, but I guess you could say that. However, she was different. In the beginning, we connected with each other, but as time went on, she changed in a weird way. She always wanted to be with me and whenever she was, she tried to do… things." Weiss knew that she was venturing to a place where she couldn't return from. "That's when I knew we weren't meant for each other. It was a mistake, but that's why we get into relationships. To experience new things so that when we find our true calling, we'll get it perfect." Ruby was starting to cry again.

"She told me that I wasn't good enough to be with you. I think she's right."

"No, she's wrong!" Out of nowhere, Weiss grabbed Ruby's hands and held them up to her face. "If anything, I'm not good enough to be with you. You're special. You throw me off guard all of time, but you manage to be the same all of the time. I just don't know how to handle things sometimes… Actually, all of the time. You make me wonder what's in store for tomorrow. I'm not worthy of calling you mine. Will you accept me?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I accept you. You're like the first person I accepted."

"No, I want to know what you really think. Am I good enough for you? You always beat around this and it's making me curious. I try my hardest, but it always seems like my best isn't good enough. What can I do for you?" Ruby turned her head.

"You don't need to do anything else. What you're doing now is fine." Her face was bright red and turning it didn't help her case at all. At that moment, Weiss brought Ruby's hand closer to her face and kissed it as gently as she could.

"I'm so thankful that I met you, Ruby."

"Me… Me too."

…

When the next week of school came around, news that Emerald transferred schools shocked everyone. Even Ruby couldn't stay quiet. She thought that it was her fault that she transferred. However, Weiss was there to ease her mind. That kind of thing could never be Ruby's fault. Even though she transferred away, another student transferred in. This time, it was a guy with blue hair and all of the girls in Ruby's class went gaga over him. His name was Neptune. It wasn't until Ruby's normal lunch group met when he revealed himself to her.

"Hey Weiss, it's nice to see you again." When she heard his voice, she nearly choked on her food, but Pyrrha was there to relieve her of that pain.

"Neptune, what are you doing here?"

"I transferred here. I guess me coming here wasn't that advertised." As they continued to talk, Ruby analyzed the situation and knew that this was someone else she knew in the past. Eventually, Neptune made himself comfortable and sat in between Ruby and Weiss on the bench. This only made Ruby more uncomfortable to the point of making her leave for the time being. However, Pyrrha couldn't leave this alone. She chased after her until they made their way into an empty hallway.

"Hey Ruby, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"I'm not trying to say that you're a bad liar, but you're pretty bad at lying. Please tell me what's wrong?" Ruby turned around and opened up to Pyrrha.

"You've known Weiss for a long time, right?" Pyrrha nodded her head. "Have you ever been in a relationship with Weiss?" At that moment, Pyrrha started to laugh hysterically.

"Ruby, why would you ask something like that? Weiss and I are just old friends. Nothing like that ever developed between us. Is that what this is about?" Ruby nodded back.

"I found out that Emerald used to be Weiss' girlfriend. Is that guy a previous boyfriend?" Somehow, Ruby hit it right on the bull's eye, but Pyrrha was too afraid to tell her that she was right so she decided to guide Ruby away from that topic completely.

"You have the best imagination ever Ruby. Anyway, let's finish up our lunch."

"Why are you avoiding the question?" Pyrrha didn't know that Ruby was more observant than she gave her credit for so there was nothing else to do, but tell her the truth.

"Yes, but… Do you want to know the whole truth of it?" Ruby nodded her head. Pyrrha knew that telling her the truth would be better, but this story she was about tell her might make her feel uneasy, and she just got over her uneasiness with Emerald. She simply took a deep breath and had Ruby take a seat next to her on the ground of the hallway.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, anyway, here it goes. Please don't take this too seriously." She took one more deep breath and spilled the beans. "Neptune was very special to Weiss. I've never seen someone love someone as much as they did. Both of them were really happy, but that doesn't make this a fairy tale. Neptune's family is absolutely devoted to serving our country and I guess something happened which forced him to leave with his family. When this happened, this broke Weiss' heart. He told her that he would write to her every day, but he never did. Whenever she tried to contact him, he was never there. She continued to try, but there was never a sign that Neptune what to be with her. Now that he's different, I don't know what's going to happen. He's like a completely different person." The entire she talked, she didn't look at Ruby. When she turned her head, her face was completely blank. "I'm sure nothing will happen though." Ruby suddenly got on her feet and walked away. "Ruby, please don't go. Nothing's going to…" Ruby was already gone and Pyrrha felt so bad. It wasn't her fault though. She wanted to be honest with Ruby and this was the only way.

At the end of the day, Ruby quickly packed her things and headed home. Incredibly, she was able to walk home alone with Weiss catching up to her. However, when she got home, she pulled out her phone and called her immediately.

"Ruby, you finally called. Where were you? I thought we were going to together, but then when I…"

"Weiss, can I ask you something?"

"Of course. What it is?"

"You told me that you have no feelings for Emerald anymore, but Pyrrha told me about Neptune. Do you still hold feelings for him now that he's here?" There was silence coming from her end of the line. "If you do then I won't…"

"No. That's my answer. I don't have feelings for him anymore. The only person I have feelings for is you. Whatever is needed, I will make that obvious to the entire world." This time, Ruby's end was silent. "Ruby, are you still…" She suddenly hung up and plopped onto her bed. Her heart was literally beating out of her chest and her head was on fire. This girl was something special and whenever she spoke to her, Ruby felt so weak, but so calm at the same time. She didn't understand it, but she did know that she kind of liked it.

End of Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 11

Closer Friends

At the start of the next week, Weiss had to give Ruby some unfortunate news. Due to some family emergency, she was forced to skip school for that week. She constantly reminded Ruby that she was really going to miss her and that nothing was going to happen while she was gone. Since this was the first time this sort of thing was happening, Weiss had to be careful with how she handled the situation. Her reassurances were good enough to make Ruby less worried about the whole thing. The only bad thing about Weiss leaving meant that Ruby would be more alone than if she was at school with her. However, Jaune and Pyrrha were still there so they were her main source of comfort while she was away.

"So where's Weiss?" Ruby answered with sadness.

"She can't be here. She said she has some family emergency."

"Aw, how come she didn't tell us about it?" Ruby just shrugged her shoulders. At that moment, Pyrrha gave Ruby a little suggestive prod to her arm. "Oh, I see how it is. Weiss wanted to make this intimate and only tell her special girl." In response to Pyrrha's inappropriate comment, Ruby's face immediately turned bright red.

"W-What are you talking about?! Don't think like that."

"Haha, I'm sorry. That was just the perfect opportunity and I had to take it. I'm sorry Ruby. I didn't mean any offense at all. You can hit me with a joke if you want."

"No, it's… It's okay." Pyrrha knew she crossed that line a little too earlier and immediately regretted her decision.

"Hey ladies." They raised their heads and saw Jaune poke his head out from the corner. "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing. I just found out that Weiss can't make it to school this week. Ruby and I pretty sad about that."

"Aw, she didn't tell us about it. Why…" Pyrrha suddenly swiped her hand at her neck to cut off Jaune before he could make the situation even worse. "A-Anyway, do you guys want to…"

"Hey Jaune, let's go!" He turned his head and saw his friends gesturing him over to them.

"Oh, hey, I gotta go. Let's hang out later then."

"Okay, that sounds good. Bye." Pyrrha sweetly waved him goodbye and Ruby quietly sent him off as well. "Hm, I guess it's just us two for most of the day today." She turned her head back to Ruby and saw that she was still slumping. "Hey Ruby, I'm really sorry about what I said earlier. I feel so bad now."

"No, it's not that." Pyrrha was confused.

"Then what's wrong? You're usually not this down."

"It's something else."

"What is it? You know you can tell me if something is bothering you." It took her a few seconds to decide whether she should tell her, and in the end, she decided to let Pyrrha know what was up.

"Can I ask you a question?" Pyrrha nodded her head. "How long have you and Jaune been together? You guys act so close and it doesn't even seem like you're totally different people. I'm actually kind of jealous. What's you secret?" Pyrrha was completely silent. This made her turn her head and when she did, Pyrrha's face was all red. "What?"

"Um, I'm glad you feel that way, but… We're not together." At that moment, Ruby immediately felt bad about her own comment.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. Jaune and I have known each other for a while so it makes sense that we're close. The only thing is that Jaune has never really cared about love. In the beginning, I thought he liked, but when I decided to ask, he just said that he wasn't interested. I'm sorry if that doesn't help what's bothering you."

"Wow, I just thought you and Jaune had a thing." Pyrrha was getting even more embarrassed the longer Ruby spoke.

"Haha, no. We're not like that."

Ring! The class bell rang and they went separate ways. It was obvious that their little conversation left them on an awkward note. The two of them thought about while they were in class, but it wasn't something that would affect their friendship. This awkwardness was caused by Ruby's bad question and Pyrrha's comment about Weiss. There wasn't anyone to blame. The only thing left to do was clear up the air between them. Once morning classes were over, Ruby headed to her lunch area where Jaune was waiting for her.

"Hey Ruby, what's up?"

"Hi Jaune, where's Pyrrha?"

"I don't know. She's usually here by now. I guess she's busy doing something right now." He pulled out his lunch and started to dig in. Meanwhile, Ruby had something else in her mind. Since her conversation with Pyrrha was a little weird, she wanted to know what Jaune had to say about the whole thing.

"Hey Jaune, can I ask you a question?"

"Is it true that you don't have feelings for Pyrrha?" At that moment, he coughed up some of his food.

"Excuse me?"

"I talked to her earlier today and she said that you guys have known each other for a long time. However, she said that when she asked about how you felt about her, you said that you didn't like her. Why?"

"Um?" Ruby's question pretty much put Jaune in a corner and he had no idea how to answer her.

"I'm sorry. It's just that Pyrrha kind of seemed a little down when she told me about it and immediately after it, I felt bad. So you don't have to answer me if you don't want to." She pulled out her lunch and started to eat, but right as she started to eat, Jaune opened up his mouth and answered Ruby's question.

"It's true. At the time, I didn't have any feelings for her. But then again, it was when we first met. In the beginning, it's hard for people to have feelings like that. It's not until people truly get to know each other when those kind of feelings started to develop. The thing about is Pyrrha is just something else. She's kind, smart, athletic, and incredibly beautiful. Anyone would be lucky to be her special person. I never actually figured that out until pretty recently. It's just that we're friends. I don't want to ruin anything that we already have… But honestly… I wish I could be her special person. I would give her my heart. She deserves it." As he talked, he kept his eyes on the sky and when he finished, he looked over at Ruby who was starting to cry. "What's wrong? Did I say something bad?" She immediately wiped her eyes and shook her head.

"No, no. It's not that. It's just… We kind of just met and yet, you can tell me these things so easily. It's so nice knowing that you trust me."

"Well, you asked. It would be rude of me not to answer something that you're curious about."

"I know, but it was something that most people try to avoid."

"Yeah, well, it was worth telling you." Those words made Ruby really happy. The more she hung out with Jaune and Pyrrha, the more it secured her belief that these people wouldn't betray or hurt like most people in the past. Ruby smiled and looked at Jaune.

"So do you like her?" Jaune nodded with embarrassment. "Don't be embarrassed. Why don't you tell her?" Jaune scoffed.

"Are you kidding me? I could never tell Pyrrha how I feel. She's so superior to me. Also, she deserves someone better than me. We're friends, and that's good enough for me."

"But what about the things you just told me?"

"What about those things?"

"I'm sure Pyrrha will love what you said about her."

"Haha. It may seem like I'm strong, but when it comes to love and Pyrrha, I'm literally the smallest, weakest person in the world." Ruby scooted over to him and nudged on the shoulder. That's when he realized that the only other person who could be smaller and weaker than him was sitting right next to him. "So you think I should tell her?"

"I think that would be fair."

"Fair? What are you talking about?"

"Well, you two have helped me out with Weiss, even though things still aren't at the best place. You've given me all of this advice and I just thought that I could give you some advice. Can't you think about it?"

"Ruby, why are you so interested in my love life all of a sudden?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. Maybe some of this stuff could rub off on me and maybe Weiss might be happier being with me."

"You don't have to worry about that. I can promise you that Weiss loves being with you." At that moment, Jaune stood up straight and took a deep breath. "You know what… I'm gonna take your advice Ruby. I'll let Pyrrha know how I feel." Just from inside of the building, Pyrrha had her back against the wall where the window was right next to her. She managed to catch the tail-end of that conversation when her knees lost their strength. She fell on her butt and pressed her hand against her chest.

"Aw Ruby, why did you have to tell him that stuff?"

End of Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 12

What a Friend Would Do

Ruby and Jaune were a lot closer thanks to that little encounter. Unfortunately, not everything went according to plans. When the next day came around, the two of them saw less of Pyrrha than they normally would. Ruby would ask about Pyrrha and Jaune would ask if she had seen her. The both of them had the same answer and the same questions. Where was she? Was she avoiding them? Did they do something wrong to make her act like this?

For the entire rest of the day, they looked for her, but she didn't show up anywhere. She didn't even join them in their normal lunch spot. This made things seem weirder than they actually were. Pyrrha wasn't the kind of person to just skip out on things like that. There was obviously something wrong with her and the two of them were determined to find out what it was so that they could fix it together. Eventually, they decided to ask some people and they saw Pyrrha at least once in the day. The only problem was that whenever they went to her last known location, she wasn't there.

When the school day came to an end, the two of them had to put their search on halt. Not many words were shared amongst the two of them since they kind of felt a little guilty about the whole thing. They didn't know if she overheard their conversation together. They just knew that they had to find her.

On her way home, Ruby was busy thinking about this whole thing. She was obviously the one to blame for Pyrrha's strange behavior. She talked with her about a subject that was quite personal. And then, she just goes ahead and talks about it with Jaune. Even though she might have meant well, it's still wrong to talk about things behind other people's backs. That's when Ruby had the horrible thought of being like everyone else she used to know: Liars and backstabbers. However, she quickly threw away that thought. She couldn't go down that road. After all of this time, she vowed to never associate with people like that so she also vowed that she couldn't become a person like that either. For her, there was just too much going on right now.

Once she got home, she made her way up to her room and collapsed onto her bed. Her entire body was exhausted. Even though their search for Pyrrha wasn't the intense, she definitely felt like it was intense. Ruby continued to lay on her stomach for a few seconds before turning onto her back. As she did, she heard a buzzing coming from her bag. She was too exhausted to check what it was so she let it go on until it stopped. A few seconds later, the buzzing returned and Ruby had to check what it was. She fell off her bed and slowly made her way over to her bag.

"Ugh! Who is this?" She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone to see Weiss calling. Her attitude immediately changed as she opened it up and responded to the call. "Hello?"

"Ruby, oh thank God. I was worried for a second. You didn't answer the first time I called so I thought something happened to you."

"No, I'm fine. I just, uh, got home and forgot that I left my phone in my bag." It was a bad lie yet Weiss fell for it.

"Well, anyway, how are you?"

"I'm okay, I guess."

"You sound down. Is everything okay? Are Jaune and Pyrrha treating you nicely?"

"Of course. They're wonderful people."

"Well, that's good to hear. It's nice to know that you're actually taking a liking to them. You know, they've actually told me that you're really cool to them. I don't know who they're talking about because the Ruby I know is not cool." Ruby didn't respond. "Okay, I'm sorry. That was completely uncalled for and very unnecessary."

"No, it's fine. I just have a lot of stuff going on right now."

"Oh really? What's up? Maybe I can help you out."

"No. it's a personal thing and I don't think I should involve you. It's really stupid."

"Oh, okay."

"So how are you? It was kind of random for you to call me since you said this thing you're doing is pretty important."

"Eh, you can say that. I was lucky to get some free time and I knew that the first thing I had to do was call you. And that's what got me in this situation."

"Are you sure you shouldn't be resting or something?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. As long as I get some sleep, I can last forever."

"That doesn't sound very healthy."

"Haha. No, but it gets the job done." That was actually the first time Weiss laughed at something Ruby said, and for Ruby, it kind of felt good. She knew that most of the things she said were pretty bland so this was definitely a step up for her. "It's nice hearing your voice. I know it's been a few days, but it feels like it's been forever." Ruby's chest immediately started to tighten. Whenever Weiss talked about these kind of things in her soothing voice, Ruby just didn't know how to react.

"Yeah," she said nervously.

"Aw, really? Okay fine. Hey Ruby, I have to go, but it was really nice to hear your voice again. I miss you and hopefully, I'll be back soon. Bye."

"Bye." Weiss hung up the phone and stared right at it. Ruby didn't even say she missed her back. She sighed, but immediately let it go. Ruby was making big leaps as a person and this small little thing was nothing to fret about.

After dinner and all of her other night events were finished, Ruby went to bed. However, falling asleep was a little challenging as she was still thinking about Pyrrha and how they didn't hear anything from her. Pyrrha is such an open, out-there kind of girl so this behavior was just beyond strange. That's when Ruby came to realize something. This was how she used to act. She was by herself all of the time and never associated with anyone. Was Pyrrha becoming like her past self? Ruby immediately smacked herself in the face.

"There's no way Pyrrha would do something like that. Why are you saying such ridiculous stuff Ruby? Just go to bed."

…

The next day, Ruby and Jaune resumed their search for Pyrrha, but the same results ended up happening. They looked around and asked around, but no one was able to get information from them. However, when they asked one person, they said that she stayed home for the day. That's when Jaune sprang into action. He pulled Ruby's hand through the hall and out of the school gates.

"Wait, what are you doing? We can't leave school."

"Who cares? You're coming with me to talk to her."

"But…" Ruby just couldn't find the words. It was obvious that Jaune had his head straight and could only think of one thing so Ruby just decided to come along quietly. Once they got to Pyrrha's house, they stood at her doorstep and stared at the door. "Aren't you going to knock on the door?"

"Um, I don't know if that would be the best idea."

"What are you talking about? You're the one who ditched school and now you're telling me you can't." Jaune's face lit up.

"You knock on the door."

"Huh?!"

"Ssshhhhh! Just knock on the door. She'll open it if you're the one at the door."

"But you said…"

"Just do it." Ruby sighed and knocked on the door. A few seconds went by before there was a voice from inside.

"Who is it?"

"It's Ruby," she said as she gave Jaune dirty look.

"Oh, I'll be right there." At that moment, Jaune turned Ruby around and told her to go away. She was so confused, but Jaune didn't tell her anything. She just did what he did and hid from sight. "Ruby, what are you…" She immediately stopped mid-sentence as she saw Jaune standing before her. "Jaune, what are you doing here," she asked with a red face.

"I don't know what this is about, but I need to talk to you."

"Um, I don't think that would be a good idea. I have to go." She tried to close the door, but Jaune stuck his foot out before she could.

"Please. I really need to talk to you." From behind the door, Pyrrha was panicking. She had a feeling about what this talk would be about and tried to prepare herself as best as she could. She opened the door back up and let Jaune say what needed to say.

"I've been selfish all of this time. Ruby told me about us and how I once said that I had no feelings for you. I do have to admit that that was once true, but things changed. I never knew it for love. I just saw it as admiration for someone as great as you. The reason why I never came out to you was because I was afraid. You're such a beautiful girl and to be with someone like me would be an insult to you. However, I decided to take a chance. I wanted to be true to myself as well as you. Pyrrha Nikos, would you do me the honor of going out with me?" At that moment, a tear rolled down her face.

"Jaune, I don't know what to say."

"This is probably making the situation worse, but…"

"No. You've made things better. To be honest, I've liked you for the longest time, but I just didn't know how to go about it. I guess our feelings are mutual for each other," she said with a smile.

"So does this mean…"

"Yes. I'd be happy to go out with you." Ruby watched the entire thing and was speechless. Jaune was surprisingly good with words and because of that, their relationship just got better. That's when she took a sigh of relief. She thought this little conflict was her fault, but in all honesty, she made things better. That unclear between the two of them was no longer there. They could finally be happy together.

"Ruby, what are you doing here?" A familiar voice called out to her from behind. She slowly turned to see Weiss with a couple of suitcases stopped a few feet away from her.

"Weiss? You're back?" Without responding to her, she dropped her bags and ran to Ruby. She wrapped her arms around and spun her around until she nearly dropped to the ground from dizziness.

"I'm surprised myself, but they let me come home early. Did you miss me?" Ruby was silent at first. She then returned her hug and nestled her head in Weiss' chest.

"I missed you a lot."

End of Chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 13

Getting Even Closer

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving. Here's the update so I hope you enjoy.

The day started off pretty well. Ruby easily woke up and got ready for school quicker than normal. She was actually excited to see Weiss again. Yesterday, they spent some time, but Ruby felt bad about not letting her go home so this was the time to truly have that time they need. Another good thing was that Ruby would be able to see Jaune and Pyrrha together without any weirdness between them. When she got to school, that was the first thing she saw Jaune and Pyrrha were waiting at the entrance and thanked her for her kindness. She looked at the two of them and they definitely looked happy. Before they always looked happy, but this kind of happy was just different. Ruby couldn't really explain it. It just made her happy as well.

"So have you guys seen Weiss this morning?"

"Actually, we haven't. We thought you two would come here together."

"I told Weiss that she could sleep in a bit since she just got home yesterday. I wonder if she's just running a little late."

"I'm sure that's the case." At that moment, the bell rang and everyone walked to their class. Ruby walked to class alone as usual. Her mind was racing. The anxiety of not having yet seen Weiss for the day made her all flustered.\

During morning classes, Ruby just couldn't concentrate. She actually wanted to see Weiss and that desire kept her from concentrating on what was going on in class. When the bell for lunch rang, she nearly sprinted from her class to her normal lunch spot. She was the first one there so she decided to wait patiently. After a minute or so, Jaune and Pyrrha joined her, but immediately noticed that she was by herself.

"Weiss still not here yet?" Ruby shook her head with growing sadness.

"Hm, that's weird. Weiss usually never misses school. Maybe she's exhausted from her trip."

"Or worse." Ruby's eyes shot wide open as she turned her head to look at Jaune. Jaune immediately felt the sharpness of Ruby's eyes and quickly explained what he meant by that comment. "What I meant by that is that maybe Weiss' sick. It's quite rare for her, but once very year at a certain time, she always gets sick and it's pretty bad. I'm guessing this is why she's not here."

"Oh right, I forgot about that. That sucks. She gets sick right after her trip."

"Well, what do you expect? That girl works too hard."

"Jaune." Pyrrha suddenly punched him in the shoulder. "What? It's true and you know it."

"I know, but you didn't have to say it like that." As the two of them of them continued their little conversation, Ruby was completely silent. Her hopes of seeing her were totally crushed if what they were saying was true. She shut herself in and Jaune and Pyrrha quickly noticed this change in Ruby's behavior. "Hey Ruby, you could always visit Weiss after school. I'm sure she would love to see you." Ruby's face suddenly turned bright red.

"What? That's absurd. She's sick. I can't go to her house and get sick."

"Oh don't worry. This sickness she always gets is never contagious. We've gone to her house every time she was sick and we never came down with anything. You should totally go."

"But…"

"Oh, don't be shy. Just go to her house after school and say hi. It would mean the world to her if you came."

For the rest of the day, Ruby contemplated on the thought of visiting Weiss' house. The last time she was there was when she had that incident with some of the students from school. Other than that, Ruby didn't feel like she had the right to visit Weiss' house. On the other hand, she still wanted to see her though. There was so much that she wanted to talk to her about that she couldn't tell her the other day. These two decisions continued to bat heads until the final bell of the day rang. Ruby packed up her things and headed out the doors. She was completely unaware of it, but she was making her way to Weiss' house.

After a while, she finally realized what she was doing. She stopped dead in her tracks and realized that she didn't have anything to give to her while she was sick. She looked around and looked for a place that had some nice, hot soup. Once a place came in sight, she ran there and grabbed what she needed. With the soup in hand, she made her way to Weiss' house.

When she got there, the hesitation increased tremendously. She brought her hand up to knock on the door, but her muscles just wouldn't go forward. She was completely frozen. Her mind was having some last-minute thoughts on the whole thing. However, that's when she finally took control. She was already there so it would be pointless if she left now. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few seconds went by when the door opened up to reveal a tall, beautiful girl. However, it wasn't Weiss.

"Who are you?" Ruby was speechless. She didn't know how to respond to this girl. She looked so intimidating.

"Um, my name is, uh… Ruby. My name is Ruby. I was just wondering if, uh, Weiss was here."

"Weiss? Why are you asking for her?"

"I'm her friend and, uh, I thought she might this." Ruby stuck out her hand with the soup in its bag. Ruby was quiet and the girl didn't say anything.

"Wait a minute. Are you _that_ Ruby?"

"Um, I think so." The girl examined Ruby carefully and opened the door up even more. "Well, I'm Weiss' older sister, Winter. Come on in. She's upstairs on your first left." Ruby slowly walked into the house as Winter closed the door behind her. After that, she escaped into the house without saying anything else to Ruby. She then looked up the stairs and decided to go to her. She climbed the stairs and made it to Weiss' room. She knocked on the door and waited for a response.

"Winter, who was that?"

"Um, Weiss? It's me." From outside of her room, Ruby could hear some drastic moving coming from the inside of the room. It wasn't until a few seconds later when Weiss finally said she could come in. Right as she walked in, she saw that Weiss' face was red and her entire body was covered in clothing and blankets. "Hi Weiss. H-How are you doing?"

"I'm alright." She coughed a little bit. "I had no idea you were coming. You should have told me. I would looked better than I am now."

"No, you're fine. I'm sure you need to be in all of that." Ruby pulled up a chair and sat down next to her bed. "I, um… I brought some soup for you. I wasn't really sure if you needed it or not. I just thought it would be nice. I don't know." Weiss smiled

"Aw, thank you Ruby. That means a lot. You can just put on that table for now." Ruby turned around and put the bag on the table. "So what's up?"

"Huh?"

"Didn't you say we would talk more today? Isn't that why you're here?" Ruby suddenly backed away. She couldn't believe she was able to hit it right on the bull's eye. Even though she was right about it, there was another reason why she was here. It was the reason that bugged her so much during the day.

"Well, I wanted to see you." Weiss' face started to glow at the sound of those words.

"Aw Ruby." Weiss was leaning towards her when Ruby got up from her chair and went back to the soup.

"How about I heat this up for you?"

"Okay."

"May I use your kitchen?"

"Of course." Ruby turned around and left Weiss' room. As she did, her sister was walking into her room as she gave Ruby a weird look. The two of them kept their eyes on each other until they were finally out of sight. Ruby then walked down to the kitchen and did her business without doing anything else. Once the soup was nice and hot, she walked back up to Weiss' room. When she got there, Weiss was already asleep.

"Weiss, are you asleep?" Weiss didn't respond. Ruby simply walked to the desk next to her bed and left the soup for her there. She then grabbed her things and left her room. Right as she was about to head downstairs, a door opened up and out walked her sister.

"Come on in. I'd like to talk to you." She didn't show herself, but the voice came from inside of the room. Ruby was very hesitant, but listened to her request. She walked into Winter's room and shut the door behind her.

"Is there a problem?"

"I don't know if you'd call it a problem. I just wanted to talk with you about some things." Winter walked over to her bed and sat down while Ruby was still on her feet, awkwardly standing in the middle of her room.

"W-What would you like to talk about?"

"It's about Weiss. I'm sure you've heard all of the rumors going on around her. What do you think of them?"

"Um, I don't really know."

"Well, I'll put your mind at ease. They are completely true. Weiss has dated so many people in such a short amount of time." Ruby had no idea why she was telling her this. If it was to make her feel bad, it was definitely working.

"Oh, I see."

"The reason why I'm telling you this is because she's completely different than she normally is." Ruby's face changed at the sound of her words. "By now, she would have already broke up with whoever she was dating. So, I think I should tell you this. It may not seem like it, but Weiss is a very fragile girl. She's gone through a lot of things and is simply looking for someone special. I just recently came home, but I have no intention of being that "special someone" for Weiss. That's why I wanted to make a selfish request. Will you be Weiss' special person?"

"Um." Ruby didn't know what to do. So much was being thrown at her that she could barely even handle it. "I don't…"

"I've noticed that she's been in such a good mood whenever she comes homes from school. Whenever I ask her what's been going on, she always brings you up. She never acted like this with any other person so I'm starting to think that you're special to her. Please be there for Weiss."

"I… I mean… I guess I could try." At that moment, Winter finally smiled which made Ruby feel so much better.

"Thank you. Seeing Weiss like this is just something else. I can't even describe it." It didn't even seem like it and Ruby didn't even realize that she was making a difference in Weiss' life. After that was the end of the conversation so she walked out of Winter's room and headed back to Weiss' room. She poked her head inside and saw that she was still asleep.

"Bye Weiss. I'll… I'll see you later."

End of Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 14

Message to Each Other

That little talk with Weiss' sister made her really think about what was going on between her and Weiss. Of course, it was interesting to hear about all of that from one of her family members, but Ruby really wanted to know more about Weiss. She has already made a huge impact on her life, but she just felt like that there was something missing. This internal conflict lasted all night and through the next day of school. Weiss came back with a smile on her face, but Ruby was back to her normal self. She was quiet and didn't do a lot of talking. She had lunch with Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha, but it just wasn't the same. They all noticed her strange behavior, but didn't comment on it. It wasn't until when the day came to an end when things started to take an interesting turn. Weiss met her at the front gate and finally decided to say something.

"Hey, you decided to wait for me."

Ruby didn't comment. She turned around and started to walk home. Weiss couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with her. She just didn't know how to go about it.

"Hey Ruby, are you okay?" It was completely silent. That's when Weiss knew she had to take full control of this conversation. She stepped in front of Ruby and gently grasped her shoulders. "Ruby, if you need to say something, you can say it. I'm willing to listen to anything you have to say. You know that, right?"

Ruby looked at the ground for a few seconds before raising her head up to look at Weiss.

"C-Could we talk about this tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? We don't have school tomorrow."

"I know. I just really need to talk to you."

"Well, then why don't we just talk right now? Does it have to be tomorrow?"

"Yes. I need to think about some things."

"Are you okay?" Weiss tried to get closer to Ruby, but she suddenly pushed her out of the way and ran home. Weiss just watched in confusion as she ran away on her own. The only thing she could do now was wait for tomorrow in hopes that she can clear everything up with Ruby.

When Weiss got home, Winter was standing at the end of the hall leaning against the hall. She asked Weiss how her day was, but she just gave her a boring response and headed up to her room. For Winter, this was strange since Weiss always came home with a smile on her face and a peppy attitude. All she could think was that something happened. That's when she hoped that what she said to Ruby didn't change anything between them. For the rest of the night, Weiss was restless. She was wondering why Ruby was being so secretive. Just the day before, she came and visited her out of nowhere. That was so unexpected on her part and now, it was almost as if she was avoiding contact with her. Weiss suddenly grabbed her phone and decided to call Ruby. Unfortunately, she didn't pick up. Weiss hung up the phone with a huge sigh.

"Ruby, please tell me what's wrong."

…

When the next day came around, Weiss quickly got ready and headed to Ruby's house in a hurry. Once she got there, she knocked on the door and eagerly waited for Ruby to come out. After a few seconds, Ruby opened the door in her same aura as when they separated yesterday.

"I'm ready to hear what you have to say."

"Um, I don't think this is the best place to talk."

"Okay, I know a good place. Come on." Weiss guided her out of her house and to a park that wasn't too far from either of their houses. When they got there, Weiss skipped into the middle of the park and breathed in the fresh air. "I always love coming here. This is my thinking place. It's always calm and comforting, except for that one night."

Ruby's eyes shot open.

"That one night?"

"The time you were being harassed by those kids and I came just in time."

"Oh right, thank you for that," she said nervously.

"Haha. To tell you the truth, I was just planning on thinking about you that night. I had no idea you were going to be here as well. When I saw something going on, I had to intervene and little did I know that it was involving you." Weiss looked at Ruby and saw her slowly walking to the bench. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up." Weiss waited a minute or so before starting up another conversation. Ruby was silent the entire time even though she was the one who wanted to talk to her. "So what's all of this about?"

Ruby waited a few seconds before opening her mouth.

"Weiss, I need to know. Why do you love me?"

That question was so random that it took Weiss by surprise, but as she looked at Ruby, she was completely serious. That look in her eyes told her that she really wanted to know the truth.

"You're special. I've never met anyone like you. I'm pretty sure I've told you this, but when you slapped me, I just knew that you were different. I know it's weird to think about, but that's the truth."

"That wasn't what I was asking."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been thinking about something. It was something that Winter told me."

"Winter? When did you talk to her?"

"It was when I was leaving your house yesterday. She pulled me into her room and talked to me about some things."

"What did you talk about?"

"She told me about how you've dated so many people. In the beginning, I never put much thought into this because I didn't care, but when she brought it up, it made me realize something. Why am I special? Why are you dating me? None of this makes sense."

"Ruby, I don't…"

"Before all of this, I was a loner. I wanted to be alone. I never wanted to be affiliated with anyone because I knew what that entitled. So… Why me?" Ruby dropped her head, but immediately felt Weiss' hand on top of hers. This made her turn her head back towards Weiss.

"I know this sounds completely fake, but… I saw something in you. Something that was very similar to me. Yes, I've dated a lot of people, but almost all of them were empty. I didn't feel that connection that love can bring."

"Your sister that you've been looking for love all of this time. I assumed you would have found it by now."

"I have. You. That's that similarity that I'm talking about. The way you couldn't be with anyone was like me. I never felt particularly close to the people I was dating. It was all just to find that one person I could be with. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I'm here now."

Ruby's eyes widened.

"You're the love I've been looking for. You're interesting, different, and you constantly keep me on my toes. I can't describe it. It just feels like every day is an entirely new experience when I'm with you."

Although all of this stuff that she was saying sounded really good, it still wasn't what Ruby wanted to hear. She set out today to figure out this girl, but it just seemed like she was falling further and further into her heart; a heart that was disguised by so many things.

"But what is love? I don't understand it." A tear suddenly rolled down Ruby's face which caused Weiss to respond. She got off the bench and knelt down in front of Ruby, wiping the tear from her face.

"I don't understand it either, but know this. If you always feel restless and unsure, you're on the right track. I've never felt like this until I met you. Every other relationship I had was the same. Boring with a predictable ending. When I'm with you, I don't know what's going to happen. I never feel in control and my heart is always skipping beats. That has to be love, right?" She continued to look at Ruby who was still avoiding eye contact with her. "Don't you agree?" Weiss finally ran out of ideas. All she could do now was hope that her words managed to reach Ruby. At this point, she felt so weak and didn't know what else to do.

"Weiss." She put her other hand on top of Weiss' and lifted her head. "I can tell you're trying your absolute hardest. It's unfair of me to make you do all of this."

"No, it's fine. That's what love is. We do things for the person we love without thinking twice about it."

"So you do love me?"

"Of course. I could never lie about that. Not now, when I've had so many failures. I'm determined to make you see it somehow. I promise and when that day comes, you'll be able to say you love me back. Until then, I'm going to keep working my hardest."

"Um, can I ask you something else?"

"Sure."

"I see Jaune and Pyrrha all of the time and they look so natural and happy. Is it possible for us to be like that?"

"Well, Jaune and Pyrrha have known each other for a long so their relationship is already pretty solid. If it comes to us, as long as we take our time, I'm sure we'll get there. I'm in no hurry."

"Weiss, thank you."

"You're welcome."

End of Chapter 14


	15. Chapter 15

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 15

Clarification

Weiss woke up early as ever and quickly made her way to Ruby's house. She knocked on her door and greeted her with a friendly good morning. After that, the two of them managed to walk to school together for the first time in a while. During the trip, Weiss was still the talkative one, but Ruby was a little bit more on the social side. She was opening up even more after everything that talked about a few days ago. However, when they got to school, they noticed things that were a bit odd. Ruby took it more seriously than Weiss, but tried to keep it to herself.

As the day started out, Ruby was a little on edge. It was due to all of the things that she was seeing. Everywhere she looked, there were numerous couples. It wasn't Valentine's Day or anywhere close to it so she thought it was weird. The other thing that she thought was weird was that they were all opposite sex couples. This really made her think hard. She was in a relationship, but it was with another girl. She never really put much thought into it until just now and it was definitely making her more confused about the whole thing.

Once lunch came around, Ruby did her usual. As she walked through the hall, more of those couples came into view which only made her think more about it. This was definitely something she wanted to talk to Weiss about since she was more knowledgeable when it came to relationships. She met up with Weiss and the two of them met up with Jaune and Pyrrha to have their normal lunch. It was nice to be with everyone again since it's been a while since they were all having lunch with each other. It wasn't until someone called for Weiss when things didn't go as planned for Ruby.

"Hey Weiss, we were wondering if you could help us out with something?"

"Um, I was kind of having lunch with these guys. Isn't there anyone else?"

"Not really. We both know that you're the best when it comes to helping out with stuff like this. We'll make it up to you somehow."

Weiss looked at Ruby and on the inside, Ruby was hurting from this request. However, she didn't want Weiss to know so she just smiled and said that it would best to help them out.

"Are you sure I should go?"

"Go, we'll be fine on our own." As much as she wanted to talk with her about what was bothering her, she knew that Weiss was a people person so she had to do this for them.

"Okay." Weiss stood up from the bench and leaned over to kiss Ruby on the head. She then walked off with two guys, creating a horrible feeling in her chest. Once she was gone, Ruby turned to Jaune and Pyrrha who were sitting closer than normal to each other.

"Hey, can I ask you guys a question?"

"Sure. Ask away."

"Do you guys think it's weird that two girls are dating each other?"

At the exact same time, Jaune and Pyrrha nearly choked on their food. Meanwhile, Ruby was waiting for their response. They cleaned themselves up and then tried their best to answer her question.

"Wait, where is this coming from Ruby?"

"I don't know. I guess it's because I see you two together and you look really happy. And then, I see a lot of other couples that are normal, meaning a boy and a girl. Don't you think it's a little weird?"

Pyrrha decided to enter the fray and Jaune was thankful that she did.

"We don't think it's weird at all. You wanna know why… Because love isn't restricted to certain types of people. If you didn't know, I also had that phase. I actually thought I was attracted to Weiss, but then I quickly realized that I was just in awe of her. She's such a great person. For you though, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I can tell that she makes you happy and you make her happy. Honestly, that's all that really matters. Who cares about gender?"

"Thank you Pyrrha. Do you really think everyone thinks like that?"

"I wish they did, but they don't. However, you don't need to worry about what other people think. Weiss loves you and you love her. That should be enough for the both of you."

For the rest of lunch and the rest of the day, Ruby was thinking to herself about Pyrrha's words. It was nice that it came from someone she trusted. Pyrrha was becoming someone she could feel really comfortable around. All of the advice she gave her was really helpful so there was no reason for this information to be wrong either. However, she still wanted to talk to Weiss. The words that came out of her mouth were just something else. Ruby never understood them, but they somehow put her at ease. It was almost like a spell out of some fairy tale. Ruby liked it though. Even though it never made sense to her, there was always something good about it. Once the final bell rang, she packed up her things and ran as fast as she could towards the front gate. Of course, Weiss was already there waiting for her and when they met up, they headed towards Ruby's house.

Ruby was silent most of the way there though. She decided to say everything right before they parted for the day so when they arrived at her house, she put her foot down and asked her what was on her mind.

"Weiss, I want to ask you something."

"Sure."

"Don't you think it's weird that you're dating a girl?"

"Of course not. Why would I think that?"

"I don't know. I've seen some of the guys you've dated and they're all really handsome. Why would you settle for a girl?"

Weiss was a little confused, but didn't hesitate at answering her question.

"I settled for you because you're different from all of the rest. When I think of love, I always think of it as being unpredictable and that's how we've been the entire time. We never know what's going on or anything's going to go. We just go along with it and hope for the best. Don't you agree?"

"I guess." She was shying away and Weiss quickly noticed this change in manner.

"What's wrong?"

Ruby didn't answer.

"Come on. Don't do this. If there's something wrong, please tell me. I want to help you. I want to be there for you so you don't have to be alone anymore." Weiss took a step towards her and gently put her hands on her shoulder. "I can still sense that aura of privacy with you. I promise that I'm going to break that down one of these days. Then, you'll finally see what you're missing."

"Weiss?"

"Yeah?"

"You know, when I started school, no one really liked me. I always tried to hang out with everyone, but no one gave me any attention. My teachers even thought that I was kind of strange. At first, I didn't think too much of it since I was still pretty young. And then when I started high school, things started to change for me. Those dislikes towards me started to reveal themselves. People outright told me that I was weird and that I should stay away from them. I couldn't believe that someone could say something like that, but it wasn't just a dream. It was a reality. The moment I realized that no one saw me for me, I just decided to give up. I stopped talking to people, I made sure I stayed out of everyone's way, and made sure I didn't do anything out of line. That's how I've gotten to where I am now."

"But you can't let that affect you. You have friends now. Jaune and Pyrrha are great people and will always be there for you. You have me. I promise I won't do anything to hurt you, and if I do, then you can have every right to hate me. I just don't want you to shut yourself in. There's so much that this life has to offer. You just have to open your mind and say yes to it." Weiss wrapped her arms around Ruby and held her close. "I know you're trying your hardest and I respect you so much for that. And I'm trying my hardest to understand you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't get you at all. Sometimes, I tell myself that I know how you're going to be, but I end up getting shot down immediately. Even though I try my hardest, it never works. Why are you so special?"

Ruby's face turned red which made her turn in embarrassment.

"W-What are you talking about? You of all people know that I'm not special."

"What you said doesn't make any sense. I'm the only person who actually knows that you're the most special person I've ever met. You're the most special person in this entire world."

"Ugh, why do you have to say that?"

"What?"

Ruby pushed off of Weiss' body and headed inside.

"Bye."

This bye was very similar to some of the ones that happened in the past. Weiss was getting used to it. It is her fault for making Ruby say goodbye in such a rushed manner, but she would eventually get Ruby to smile and say something sweet to her. For now, she would settle a brush off the shoulder as she knew that Ruby was changing. Ruby, herself, may not realize it yet, but Weiss could tell that this was a different girl from when she first met her.

End of Chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 16

A Trip by Themselves

 **Note:** This story is coming to an end soon. I hope you've all been enjoying it and I hope you enjoy yet another update. Sorry that it's been a while since I updated this story.

"Hey Ruby, I didn't know if you this, but my aunt and uncle own this beach house near here. They're not going to be there this weekend and they told me that it's mine if I wanted to come. What do you think? Would you like to go?"

"This weekend? I don't really know. Would it be just us?"

"Of course… Unless if you're not comfortable with that."

"No, no. It's fine if it'll just be us."

"Oh Ruby? Are you excited that it's just you and me?"

"Uuhhh, don't say it like that."

"I'm sorry. Anyway, I'll come to your house tomorrow morning and we'll head over to the train station. The trip shouldn't be that long. Make sure you're ready, okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright. Good night."

"Good night."

Ruby hung up the phone and immediately ran to her closet. She rummaged through her things to try and pick something to wear tomorrow and for the weekend. Even though she didn't have a lot of clothes, it was really difficult to pick what she wanted to bring with her. She was afraid that she could possibly out dress Weiss or even worse, Weiss got out dress her by a huge margin. This possibility made things a lot harder on her. It even got to the point where Ruby was tempted to call Weiss and ask her what she was going to wear, but then she would seem weird, and that was not how Ruby wanted to be thought up as.

…

The next morning started off early for Ruby. She woke up and got ready as fast as she could. Once she was ready, Weiss was already waiting for her at the door. Ruby grabbed her things and exited the house. They greeted each other with friendly good mornings and then set off for the train station. Once they were on the train, Weiss could easily tell that Ruby was really nervous. Her hands were shaking and she was a little antsy.

"Hey Ruby, are you alright?"

"Huh? Y-Yeah, of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"You seem very nervous. You just need to relax. I promise it's only going to be us two."

"I know, but…"

That's when Weiss realized that that was the reason why Ruby was so nervous. Her thought was that Ruby had never be alone with someone before for a whole weekend. Weiss grabbed Ruby's hand and looked her right in the eye.

"Ruby, I promise nothing is going to happen to you. You have my word."

Ruby saw the honesty in her eyes and that somehow took a small weight off of her shoulders.

"Okay, I guess you're right."

"Alright. Now, stop worrying about it. This is meant to be a fun little trip."

For the rest of the way, Weiss did everything in her power to cheer Ruby up. After all, they were heading to the beach and that was always a fun place to kids their age.

When they arrived, Weiss grabbed Ruby by the hand and the two of them ran to the beach as quickly as they could. Once it was in sight, Weiss stopped dead in her tracks and took in the amazing view. The vast ocean was crashing into the shore. The water was crystal clear and the air was so soothing. That's when Weiss let go of all of her troubles. On the other hand, Ruby was still a little nervous. After she got over the view, she guided Ruby to the changing room where they got into their bathing suits for a day of play. Weiss was quick to get out, but Ruby was really slow. She wasn't particularly confident with her body and since people showed a lot of their body when at the beach, this only worried her even more.

"Hey Ruby, are you almost done?" Weiss knocked on the door and pressed her ear against just to make sure that everything was alright. After a few seconds, the door swung open which nearly caused Weiss to fall on her face.

"Weiss?"

"Sorry, I was just checking to make sure that you were…" She had to stop everything as she got her first look at Ruby in her bathing suit. It was the cutest red bikini she had ever seen that she just had to comment on it. "Oh my gosh, you look so cute."

"D-Don't make fun of me."

"I'm not making fun you."

Ruby knew she wasn't. It was just because she wasn't fond of bathing suits. However, when she got a look at Weiss, she was speechless. Weiss was wearing a beautiful, white bikini and that complimented every curve on her body. Ruby didn't even know a bikini make a girl look this good.

"Wow, y-you look really good."

"Aw, thank you. Now, let's go have some fun."

Weiss took her hand once more and they ran to the water where they spent most of their time. Weiss made sure to have a smile on her face the entire time as to reassure Ruby that she could have a good time. They played in the water, made some sand castles, and had a lot of good food. They wanted it to go on forever, but once when the sun reached the horizon, they knew that their day was over.

After that, Weiss took her to the beach house where Ruby finally managed to say words on her own accord. She really liked the look of the house from the outside and when she walked inside, it only got better. It had that dream-like feel of a beach house. It had large windows that looked out to the beach as well as a lot of room everywhere else. Weiss was glad to see that Ruby was enjoying herself. As the two of them got ready for bed, Weiss pulled some of the blankets out of the cabinets and Ruby took them from her.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I was going to sleep in the living room."

"Why are you going to sleep there?"

"I don't want to intrude too much on your family's beach house."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ruby. They won't mind at all. I was, uh… I was actually hoping we could share a bed today." Weiss' face started to turn red while Ruby's face was like bloodshot.

"S-S-S-Share a bed?"

"Yeah, this place can get pretty cold since it's right on the beach. Also, my aunt and uncle don't like to use the power here so I thought that if we share a bed, we wouldn't be too cold during the night." Weiss looked up at Ruby who was obviously thinking hard about this. "But, I mean… We don't have to if you don't want to."

Ruby gripped the pillow and blanket as tight as she could.

"I… guess we could."

Weiss smiled and guided her to the guest bedroom. Luckily, the bed was pretty big or else it would have made things a little more awkward than they already were. They set up the bed and climbed in. Weiss turned off the light and the two of them tried to fall asleep. Unfortunately, they both had things on their minds that they wanted to share. They just didn't know how to go about saying to the other. Their backs were facing each other so speaking up would only disturb the silence. However, Weiss knew that she couldn't leave things the way they were so she turned around and wrapped her arm around Ruby.

"W-W-W-What are you doing?"

"Ruby, I made a promise to you. I told you that I would never do anything to hurt you. I know you're nervous. I am too. I've never spent time with someone like this."

Ruby widened her eyes in wonder.

"What do you mean?"

"Although I dated a lot of people in the past, we never did things like this. We never made memories, we never had fun together… Today was unforgettable. I just wanted to thank you for being here with me."

"Well… Thank you for inviting me."

"Ruby, I really do love you."

There were those words again; the ones that worked like poison. They got underneath her skin and made her feel so weak. She didn't know how to comment on it so the only thing she could do was stay silent until Weiss gave up for the night.

"You know? You still haven't said it back to me." Although she was expecting Ruby to be silent, that was a good sign. She just felt that if she heard those same words spoken to her at this moment, it would just ruin things. "I'm not rushing you at all. Please don't think that I am. I just… One of these days, you'll say I love you to me and I'll be the happiest person in the world." She turned back over so that her back was facing Ruby's back. "Good night Ruby."

This girl just had a way with words that made Ruby feel so defenseless. Of course, she didn't have the courage to say "I love you" to her, but it was a thought in the back of her mind. Those words are vital to any kind of close relationship and Ruby was starting to feel as though Weiss was being neglected. Not hearing those words from the person she loves could, in fact, be more painful than anything else. Ruby wanted to say it, but she didn't understand what it meant. Even after all of this… Even after all of this time that she spent with Weiss, she still doesn't understand what love means. It was obvious that Weiss was doing everything for her. Ruby just felt that she was doing her best for Weiss and that alone was unfair. As quietly as she could, she turned around and looked at Weiss' back.

"Weiss, a-are you awake?" There was no response. Ruby inched closer to her body and could feel her warmth. She gently pressed her hand against her back and closed her eyes. "Good night Weiss."

End of Chapter 16


	17. Chapter 17

The Meaning of Love

Chapter 17

The Final Steps

 **Note:** Sorry about the late update. My original plan was to have two more chapters, but I decided that this was the best way to go. I hope you all enjoy this finale chapter and be sure to let me know how I did since you're comments are always helpful no matter how mean they may seem.

After that trip to the beach, Ruby and Weiss were able to act a lot of closer to each other than before. Weiss cooled her normal behavior towards Ruby. She was a lot more conservative in every way since Ruby didn't like all of that mushy-mushy stuff. Meanwhile, Ruby changed herself even more. She opened herself up more to Weiss' love and to her surprise, she really liked it. Together, they managed to find some common ground in their relationship.

When another day of school came around, Ruby waited for lunch since that was her favorite part of the day. She could spend her time being around people who she cared about and who cared about her. Once the lunch bell rang, she sprinted out of the room and met up with Weiss. For the first time in a long time, all four of them were able to eat lunch together. They took their spots and enjoyed each other's company.

"Man, it's been so long since we've all been together."

"I know. It's all your fault Weiss," Pyrrha said with beating eyes.

"Hey, it's not my fault. My life gets busy sometimes and I have no control over it. Don't pin this on me, Nikos. You could have visited me anytime."

"Yeah, back off. Weiss doesn't need this right now." Ruby's comment left everyone silent. They looked at her with weird looks and then her with weird looks. That's when she realized she went too far. "I'm s…"

Out of nowhere, they all started to laugh. Ruby was the only one who wasn't understanding anything.

"Haha, we are so sorry Ruby. It's just that we've never seen you so defensive before so we kind of wanted to let that moment last for as long as possible."

"You know we love you."

Ruby turned her head in embarrassment.

"Ruby, come on. We're joking. We didn't mean any harm. That's just what friends do."

At that moment, that word sparked something in her mind. "Friend…" That word is only used sparingly in Ruby's life and yet, they were throwing it around like nothing. In the beginning, that word really freaked her out, but now, it becoming a lot more familiar.

"Friends?"

"Of course. You do know that we're all friends, right?"

Ruby turned her head and looked at Weiss. She had on such a genuine look on her face that told Ruby that there was nothing to worry about.

"Friends… Yeah. So, does this mean I'm allowed to tell you guys that Jaune tripped while going up the stairs yesterday?"

Jaune immediately spit out his water.

"What are you talking about?"

"You didn't know? Yeah, he was walking up the stairs and tripped on the final step. He tried playing it off like nothing, but from the bottom of the stairs, it was the greatest thing ever."

Both Weiss and Pyrrha looked at him with such teasing looks on their face.

"Aw, Jaune, is that true? Were you trying to use your cool guy tactics?"

"No. I didn't trip. Ruby's just making up lies."

"Sorry Jaune, but I know you enough to know that Ruby is telling the truth." Pyrrha had him figured out and there was no way he could possibly escape.

"Come on, Pyrrha. You don't even believe me."

"Sorry, but I'm with Ruby on this one. You can be a bit a klutz sometimes."

"Oh, that's it. I've had enough of you." Jaune leaned over and started to tickle Pyrrha in all of her sensitive spots. For Ruby, this was the first time she had ever seen flirting happen right in front of her. It's not that it was wrong and rude; it was just interesting for Ruby to witness it.

"Hey Ruby, you want me to tickle you too," Weiss asked as she poked Ruby in the side of her body.

"Hyah! Weiss!"

"What? You seemed pretty jealous of what they were doing so I thought that we could do the same."

"Well, I don't want to do the same thing as them."

 _Ring!_ The first class bell rang and the four of them packed up their things. Once they got into the hall, they said their goodbyes and went on their separate ways. For the rest of the day, things were pretty calm. Nothing strange happened to anyone so all that was left to look forward to was the walk home with each other. When the final bell of the day rang, Ruby packed up her things and ran to the front of the school to meet up with Weiss. She had on that same inviting smile as she reached out her hand and grabbed Ruby's as they walked home together. When they made it to Ruby's house, Weiss stopped her before she could get inside.

"Hey Ruby, I was wondering… Would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Isn't that a little sudden?"

"Yeah, I just thought that we could spend some more time together."

Ruby took a few seconds to think about it.

"I… I guess we could."

"Alright, I'll pick you up tomorrow at noon. Bye." Weiss waved goodbye as she ran off back to her house.

When Ruby got inside of her house, she immediately got nervous about the idea. The last time she went on a date with Weiss, it ended really badly. However, she also had another thought that completely counteracted her previous one. Their special day at the beach went by with such ease. Nothing messed it up and nothing went wrong. It was her ideal date. She wanted a day just like that, but she was afraid that something bad would happen again. The rest of that night was a struggle for her.

At the same time, Weiss was worrying about it too. She wanted to make sure that Ruby would be comfortable with whatever they did. She was also hyping herself up because there was a small chance that she might say those words she's been hoping to hear all of this time.

…

The next day came around the two of them were ready for a special day. Both of them were determined to make this day as good as they could. Both of them had ulterior motives that they hoped to achieve. They just didn't want to say it out loud. Once lunch was upon them, Weiss knocked on Ruby's door and the two of them set out for the day.

Weiss decided to take her to a nice, little restaurant. The whole place was happening so there wouldn't be any sense of awkwardness between them. Unfortunately, things didn't start off well. Since it was the weekend, many of the students from their school were there and they were all giving Ruby dirty looks. Weiss knew that this was happening and decided to keep Ruby close. Once they were seated, Weiss tried to lighten the mood with some random conversation. Ruby managed to pick it up pretty easily, but those gloomy looks were just bothering her too much. Time went by slowly to the point where Weiss could barely handle it herself.

"Weiss, I'm not quite sure…"

Weiss suddenly slammed her hands on the table and stood up from her chair.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?! I know most you in here and what you're doing to us is just rude! We would never stay in a place like this just to make others feel bad. The way you're looking at us is ridiculous. How can you even stand yourselves?! You don't know us! You wish you did! I truly ashamed!" Weiss grabbed Ruby's hand and pulled her out of the restaurant without anything else to say. All Ruby could do was follow her and hope that she wouldn't lash out at her. Once they made it out of the store and towards somewhere more peaceful, Weiss let go of Ruby's hand and dipped her head.

"Weiss, are you okay?"

"I'm so sorry, Ruby. I wanted this day to be special, but people nowadays are just too much. I completely understand why you did what you did before you met me."

"Actually, I wanted to talk about something that happened."

"What? What do you mean?"

"When we were in that restaurant, it was obvious that everyone was giving me bad looks for being with you. They were all wondering why a girl like me was with a girl like you. So… why did you say 'us'?"

"Huh? Why would even ask that?"

"Because they were only looking at…"

Weiss suddenly grabbed Ruby by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"I don't care if they were only aiming it towards you. When I'm with you, I feel your pain. I'm able to feel the things that you're feeling. I just want you to know that I'm prepared to be there for you whenever you need me, even if you don't think you need. I'm going to be there for you." Weiss reached down and grabbed Ruby's hand. "Come on. I want to take you somewhere special."

They walked hand in hand until they came across a familiar playground. Ruby was a little hesitant to walk towards it, but since Weiss was holding her hand, she felt a little stronger about the whole thing.

"You remember this place?"

"Mm," she muttered softly.

"Well, I remember this place as the first time where people truly aren't who they say they are." Weiss kept her eyes on Ruby and saw that she slowly raised her head to her. "Yeah, other things happened, but this was the first time I was able to realize that some people are fake. I knew those people who harassed you and I considered them my friends. Unfortunately, they were only showing a side of them that wasn't permanent. I felt the pain of seeing the truth and realizing that I had dishonest friends… But then you came along. You taught me many things that I wouldn't have learned if I didn't meet you."

"What are you talking about? I didn't teach you anything."

"Yes you did, Ruby. You taught me the most important thing in this world: To love someone for who they are on the inside. When I got to know you, you never showed your true self. After a while, that special 'you' started to appear and immediately fell in love. I couldn't believe that someone so special was living inside of you. That's when I knew that I wanted to be with you."

Ruby was speechless. Weiss was doing it again. Her whole spiel about love and not giving Ruby any chance to bounce back from it. It was a cheap move, but Ruby was starting to enjoy it more and more.

"And I'm lucky enough to still be with you. I just wanted to say thank you for allowing me into your life." Weiss said no more as the two of them took their seat on the park bench and watched as the sun slowly started to make its way towards the horizon.

Time went by as the sun finally touched the horizon. That's when Ruby had an idea. She took Weiss' hand and led her to some unknown place. This was not a part of the plan so Weiss just followed along and made sure that she would be surprised no matter what happened.

After a few minutes of walking, they entered the school grounds and went to Ruby's normal lunch spot. Of course, Weiss had to comment on this since they spent almost all of their time here.

"Ruby, what are we doing here?"

Ruby took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

"This was the first time I realized that there are good people in this world. Yeah, I was a little hesitant about you, but you were honest with me from the very start. I shut you out, but you continued to get closer to me. You introduced me to new things, we had a lot of fun times, and I was able to make two more friends who I really care about." Ruby turned around and faced Weiss with complete confidence. "Now, I still don't know what it means to be in love, but I want to discover it… with you. I want to be with you. You make me happy. You put a smile on my face. No one else in my entire life has been able to do that so easily like you do. I'm probably wrong about this, but I'll say it anyway. I… I love you."

"Ruby."

"I know you wanted to hear those words for so long and I'm really sorry for making you wait, but…"

At that moment, Weiss grabbed her and pulled her into her body, giving her the warmest hug she ever had.

"I don't care about waiting. This was completely worth it. I know how hard it must have been for you, but I promise… I will always be here for you. No matter where I am or what I'm doing, you can count on me."

"Weiss." Tears started to run down her face as she gripped the back of Weiss' shirt.

"But you know… I finally got you to say it," Weiss said with a smile.

"Whatever."

The End


End file.
